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FROM BULL RUN 
TO CHANCELLORSVILLE 

The Story of the Sixteenth New York 

Infantry together with Personal 

Reminiscences 



By 
NEWTON MARTIN CURTIS, LL.D. 

BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. VOLS. 



''Our Federal Union; it must be preser'ued' 
" Forsan et haec olim meminisie jwvabit " 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
NEW YORK & LONDON 

1906 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Conle< Received 

AUG 10 1906 

op^rii^M Entry 

h%%(fO, xxc. No. 

COPY B. ' 




Copyright, 1906 

BY 

NEWTON MARTIN CURTIS 



TO THE 

Nnblr Wamtn 

WHO GAVE THEIR HUSBANDS AND SONS TO THE 
ARMY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE UNION 
THIS VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. 



PREFACE 

MY intention had been to tell the story of my first regi- 
ment, the Sixteenth New York Infantry Volun- 
teers, in the Civil War; but the collection of material for that 
purpose brought out so much, that I determined to include 
the other military organizations from Northern New York 
which, for any portion of the two years' term of the Six- 
teenth, formed part of the Army of the Potomac. Hence 
mention is made of the Eighteenth, the Thirty-fourth, the 
Sixtieth, the Ninety-second, the Ninety-sixth and Ninety- 
eighth Infantry regiments, of Captain Riley Johnson's 
Company K, Sixth New York Cavalry, and of Captain 
Thomas W. Osborn's Battery D, First New York Light 
Artillery; together with some account of the battles of Bull 
Run, West Point, Fair Oaks, Gaines' Mill, Savage's Station, 
Glendale, Crampton's Pass, Antietam, Fredericksburg, 
Chancellorsville, and Salem Heights, in which one or more 
of these commands participated. The narrative is based 
on my personal experience, on the official reports, and on 
the statements and writings of officers and prominent par- 
ticipators on both sides of the struggle. 

In tracing the operations of corps, and the movements 
of minor organizations, in reviewing battles, and in char- 
acterizing commanders, I have endeavored to give due 
credit for successes, and to place the responsibility for de- 
feats where it belongs. Above all, my purpose has been to 
commemorate the devotion, the valor, and the endurance 
of the men of both armies. The unanimity with which 
the Confederacy was supported shows that its uprising was 
not the outgrowth of the personal ambition of any man. 



VI 



Preface 



or the clever work of a few designing ones. The under- 
lying cause, in my opinion, was not primarily the slavery 
question, but may be traced to the fiscal pohcy estabUshed 
by the Tariff Act of 1828, whose author, Silas Wright, was 
the Representative in Congress from Northern New York. 
The war established the principle that, from the adoption 
of the Constitution, the nation has been made up of "inde- 
structible states of an unbroken union." Fortunately the 
contest continued until the last cartridge had been expended 
and the last ration had been eaten by those men who had 
striven for State sovereignty. Then came the splendid 
opportunity for the Federal forces to signalize their triumph 
by magnanimity and generous treatment, and for the Con- 
federates to respond by a renewal of loyalty to the old flag, 
which now after forty years nothing can impair. 

The right of the Southern States to withdraw is not dis- 
cussed in this volume. My opinion is indicated by the fact 
that I volunteered "to preserve the Union" on the day that 
President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling for seventy- 
five thousand troops "to recover the property of the United 
States, forcibly seized, and to enforce the laws," and that 
I remained on active duty in the army until hostiUties had 
ceased throughout the entire borders of the Republic. 

The first sentiment on the title page, "Our Federal Union; 
it must be preserved" (President Jackson's toast at the 
Jefferson dinner), expresses the universal feeUng of the 
people of Northern New York, and the sole purpose of all 
who went forth to war. The second sentiment, "Forsan et 
haec olim meminisse juvahW^ (It may perhaps in after years 
delight you to remember these hardships), is from the con- 
cluding words of iEneas, spoken at the first "Camp Fire" 
of which we have any record in history or romance. As 
Virgil put these words of consolation into the mouth of his 
hero, who passed through many perils and much hardship 



Preface 



vu 



to found the Roman Empire, so we Americans, who passed 
through the Civil War and carried it to the final conclusion 
which laid the enduring foundation of our nation, may well 
dehght ourselves in remembering the hardships through 
which this splendid achievement was won. 

Acknowledgments 
My grateful acknowledgments are due to Mrs. Joseph 
Rowland and Mrs. Joel J. Seaver for placing at my dis- 
posal the Regimental Records of the Sixteenth Volunteers, 
and the correspondence which passed between Colonels 
Davies, Rowland and Seaver and their superior officers; 
to Mrs. George B. Winslow for the letters of her brother. 
General Albert M. Barney, and to Miss Ellen I. Parker for 
those of her father. Captain George Parker; to Brigadier- 
General John C. Gilmore; Colonels FrankHn Palmer, and 
WilHam H. Walhng; Captains Wilham L. Best, Isaac T. 
Merry, W. R. Helm; Corporal Alonzo R. Fuller; Private 
Riley E. Wilkins, all of the Sixteenth; to Colonel Richard C. 
Shannon, Fifth Maine, of General Slocum's staff; Colonel 
E. W. Guindon, of General Slocum's staff; the Second Au- 
ditor of the Treasury; the Commissioner of Pensions; Gen- 
eral Phisterer, Assistant Adjutant- General of the State of 
New York: to The Century Company, and Charles Scrib- 
ner's Sons, for permission to copy from their pubhcations; 
and to Colonel WilHam F. Fox, for the use of his pubhca- 
tions. If there were space, I would be glad to insert the 
names of more than twenty-five hundred soldiers, their 
relatives and friends, who have aided me in collecting in- 
formation relating to the ser\^ices of the members of the 
Sixteenth, the dates of the death of those who have died 
since the War, and the residences of the survivors. 

N. M. C. 

Ogdensburg, N.Y., March, 1906. 



CONTENTS 

The number of the volume of the War of the Rebellion Records con- 
taining the ofl&cial reports of the operations treated of in certain chapters 
is given at the head of such chapters in the table of contents. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER I 

Secession 
Confederate government. — Firing on the Flag. — President Lin- 
coln calls for troops. — War meetings in Ogdensburg. — 
Depeyster. — Potsdam. — Gouverneur. — Stockholm. — Platts- 
burgh. — Chazy. — Malone. — Departure of companies for Al- 
bany 1-17 

CHAPTER II 
Organization of the Sixteenth 
Advice of political leaders rejected. — Major Delafield's record 
mendations adopted. — Irritation caused thereby. — Members 
of officers' caucus pledged to secrecy. — Pledge violated. — Ex- 
clusion. — Election of Field Officers. — Appointment an- 
nounced in General Orders. — Roman Catholic Priest in- 
vited to company quarters. — The Priest's later prominence. 
— Mustered into the United States service. — The Field and 
Staff. — Two men refuse to be mustered and what followed. 18-25 

CHAPTER III 
Preliminary Instruction in the Art of War 
Ludicrous manoeuvres. — An old-time requisition. — Going into 
camp. — Rev. L. Merrill Miller. — Paid for State service. — 
Review by Governor Morgan. — "A howling success." — 
March to Albany and embark for New York City. — March 
to Washington Square. — Colors presented to the regiment in 
behalf of Mrs. Howland. — Refreshments. — Journey to 

ix 



X Contents 

PAGE 
Washington. — Marching through Baltimore. — Music in Car- 
tridge boxes. — Camp Woolsey. — Reviewed by President 
Lincoln. — ^Target practice. — By steamer to Alexandria.^ 
Making camp in the dark. — Mishaps. — Reconnaissance to 
Mount Vernon. — " Return slaves and respect private prop- 
erty." — Camp Vernon. — Extracts from Letters of a family . 26-37 

CHAPTER IV 
"On to Richmond" 

[W. R. VOL. u.] 
Encamp at Annandale. — Skirmish with the Fifth Alabama. — 
Camp at Centreville. — Battle of Blackburn's Ford. — Ex- 
ploits of a bee hunter from the Adirondacks. — Battle of Bull 
Run. — Skirmishing with the Sixth Alabama. — Jones's Bri- 
gade repulsed by the Artillery. — Recalled to Centreville. — 
Main fighting done by the right wing. — Meritorious conduct 
of officers who later fought at Fort Fisher. — Miss Mason 
visits our outposts and reports to General Ewell. — Gen- 
eral Gordon's account of it.— Private Rodden returns to 
camp with the beef cattle of Davies' Brigade. — McDowell's 
campaign reviewed 38-5 1 

CHAPTER V 

Making a Regiment 
Colonel W. B. Franklin. — Passes to Washington limited. — Why 
a refusal was reconsidered. — Women forbidden camp under 
penalty of death. — Colonel's wife admitted notwithstanding. 
— Disobedient officer invited to dine instead of being shot. — 
General Davies' death. — "The books are posted." — Term of 
enlistment settled 52-59 

CHAPTER VI 
In Old Virginia 
Reorganization of the Brigade. — Military Execution. — Reviewed 
by General McClellan. — George Mason of Spring Bank. — 
Pohick Church. — Irreconcilable difference between George 
Mason of Gunston Hall and George Washington of Mount 
Vernon. — The old church in 1837 and 1861. — Officers on 
recruiting service. — Fairfax Street Hospital. — Major John 
Newton plans Fort Lyon. — In charge of details building it 
— A chaplain's demand for whiskey ration. — Brigadier-Gen- 
eral H. W. Slocum assumes command of the brigade. — Ex- 



Contents xi 

PAGE 

pedition to Pohick Church. — Severe orders against forag- 
ing. — Protests and arrests. — Sixteenth moves camp. — 
Franklin's division 60-73 

CHAPTER VII 

Winter Quarters 
Instructions in Tactics and Army Regulations. — Captain Stetson 
repeats commands. — Educated officers in Franklin's divi- 
sion. — Adjutant Bicknell's description of a good soldier. — 
A soldier who doubted his captain's courage. — Army re- 
viewed at Bailey's Cross Roads. — Election of major. — An- 
other execution. — Chaplain Millar. — Efforts to abolish pro- 
fanity. — Erroneous opinion as to military men. — Welcoming 
the New Year 74-87 

CHAPTER VIII 
Marches preliminarv to the Campaign of 1862 
Fairfax Seminary Hospital. — Promotion of Colonel Davies and 
Captain Howland. — "Useless to instruct tall officers." — 
First Division, First Army Corps. — March to Fairfax and 
return. — Catlett's Station. — Apple blossoms and snow fall- 
ing. — "May burn split timber, but not rails." — Captain 
Parker's letters. — Embark for the Peninsula. — Colonel How- 
land's letters. — Debark at head of York River 88-95 

CHAPTER IX 
Battle of West Point, Virginia 

[W. R. VOL. XI.] 

Presentiments. — Companies F and G resist Hood's Brigade. — 
Summary treatment. — Cause of it learned in 1869. — A Mason 
in distress. — Extract from Hood's "Advance and Retreat." — 
A Texan saved Hood by killing Corporal Love 96-103 

CHAPTER X 

From the Pamunkey to the Chickahominy 

[W. R. VOL. XI.] 

McClellan commends conduct in battle. — White House. — Organ- 
ization of Fifth and Sixth Corps. — March to the Chicka- 
hominy. — Fourth Corps crosses the River. — Mechanicsville. 
— Captain John Smith and Pocahontas. — Captain Gibson 
and Dr." Gaines's Mill. — A recruit who wished he was a baby. 



xii Contents 

PAGE 

— Unfavorable position of the Army. — Secretary of War's 
order. — Battle of Fair Oaks. — Casualties. — Barney's letter. 
— Osborn's Battery. — Slocum's Division crosses the Chicka- 
hominy 104-116 

CHAPTER XI 
The Battle of Gaines's Mill 

[W. R. VOL. XI.] 

Ordered to extend right wing north of Richmond. — Stanton's 
dispatch of June 26. — Extract from Dabney's Life of 
Stonewall Jackson. — McClellan's order to quartermaster at 
White House. — Slocum's Division goes to the support of 
Porter. — Twentieth North Carolina captures section of Ed- 
wards's Battery. — Porter's account of its recapture by the 
Sixteenth. — Comte de Paris's reference to the incident. — Con- 
duct of the North Carolina regiment recalls the praise paid 
their grandfathers. — Member of North Carolina regiment 
writes of the incident forty-two years after the battle. — Ex- 
periences on the firing line. — Colonel Howland and his war 
horse "Old Scott." — Casualties. — Extract from "War Pict- 
ures from the South" 1 17-129 

CHAPTER XII 
From the Chickahominy to the James 

[w. R. VOL. XI.] 

Battles of Garnett's Farm, Peach Orchard and Savage's Station. 
— Leaving the wounded at Savage's Station. — Corporal 
Durkee's letter. — Surgeon Stevens's account of destruction of 
munitions and supplies. — Battle of White Oak Swamp. — 
Destruction of pontoon train by Captain McMahon and the 
pioneer corps of the Fifth Vermont. — Difficulty of protecting 
poultry under artillery fire. — Battle of Glendale. — Firing 
line incidents. — Bicknell's account of the withdrawal of the 
brigade from a position of which the enemy held three sides. 
— The army on the bank of the James. — Extract from Mc- 
Clellan's "Own Story" 130-141 

CHAPTER XIII 
Harrison's Landing 
The Sixteenth's losses in change of base. — Seaver's letter to 
Colonel Howiand. — Returned from hospital. — President Lin- 



Contents xiii 

PAGE 

coin visits the army. — Harrison Bar letter. — "Would out- 
flank your company at both ends." — Colonel rejoins the 
regiment. — Slocum's promotion. — A promotion which did 
not materiahze. — Army withdrawn from the Peninsula on 
advice of General Halleck. — What it cost to return it later 
to this same place 142-15 1 

CHAPTER XIV 
Leaving the Peninsula 
Crossing the Chickahominy on pontoon bridge. — Wilhamsburg. — 
Colonial capital. — College of William and Mary. — The Altna 
Mater of great men. — Phi Beta Kappa. — First insane asylum 
in America. — First steps taken leading to independence. — 
Washington and Jefferson as suitors. — Yorktown. — Surren- 
der of the British flags in 1781 recalled by Ensign Wilson's 
grandson, adjutant of the Sixteenth. — Newport News to Al- 
exandria. — Sixteenth's losses on the Peninsula 152-156 

CHAPTER XV 
The Army of the Potomac broken up 
Third and Fifth Corps join Pope. — Sixth Corps advances to Cen- 
treville. — Taylor's Brigade engaged. — Slocum's division 
checks retreat. — Retires to Centreville. — Ovation to General 
Kearny. — Kearny killed. — Action and comments of Generals 
R. E. Lee, Longstreet and Fitzhugh Lee. — General Hawkes's 
account of Kearny's death. — Kearny in Northern New York. 
— Correspondence between Halleck and McClellan. — Presi- 
dent Lincoln assigns McClellan to command the defences of 
the capital 157-166 

CHAPTER XVI 

The Maryland Campaign including the Battle of Crampton's Pass 
[w. r. vol. xix.] 

General Lee's plans and operations of his army until capture of 
Harper's Ferry. — General McClellan pursued the enemy in 
three columns. — Movements of the Sixth Corps. — Battle of 
Turner's Pass fought by the First and Ninth Corps. — Battle 
of Crampton's Pass fought by the Sixth Corps. — Seaver's 
letter to Colonel Rowland. — Walling's letter. — Captains 
Parker, Curtis and Lieutenant Barney rejoin the regiment 
from hospital. — Ambulance corps reorganized. — Captain 



xiv Contents 

PAGE 

Hopkins's Letter. — Visit to Confederate Hospital. — Inter- 
viewed a soldier from North Carolina and one from Georgia. 
— Resemblance to a namesake. — Marching to Battle of 
Antietam 167-178 

CHAPTER XVII 
The Battle of Antietam 
[w. r. vol. xix.] 
General Lee places his forces in position at Sharpsburg. — The 
order in which McClellan's army corps came to the field 
at Antietam. — ^Major Joseph M. Knap. — Burnside's delay 
at Antietam Bridge. — Charge of the Sixth Corps prevented 
by protest of Sumner. — The hesitation of Burnside and fail- 
ure to send the Sixth Corps forward turned what might have 
been a victory into a drawn battle. — Casualties. — Colonel 
W. B. Goodrich. — General George S. Greene. — Captain 
L. L. Buck 179-19 1 

CHAPTER XVIII 

On the Battlefield at Night 
The picket line. — The resting soldiers. — Carrying wounded to 
the surgeons. — A Delawarean brought in. — Incident recalled 
twenty years after. — The widow's son. — Regretted he could 
not die under the flag he fought for. — A lesson in toleration. — 
Father McAtee. — Under a blanket with a dead Confederate. 
— Lieutenant Colonel Stetson's noble conduct. — Major 
Palmer's letter to Judge Stetson 192-197 

CHAPTER XIX 

The Army at Bakersville 

[w. R. VOL. XXI.] 

Letters of Walling and Stone. — President Lincoln's visit. — Colonel 
Howland resigns. — His character and soldierly qualities. — 
Colonel Bartlett's promotion. — Last election in the Sixteenth. 
— Elections violate the principles of military system. — Father 
McAtee conducts religious services. — Opinions of a bigot.— 
Injustice of orders dropping wounded men. — Illustrated in 
case of Sergeant Winslow. — ^Author commissioned lieutenant 
colonel One Hundred and Forty-second New York. — Slocum 
promoted to the command of the Twelfth Corps. — Walling's 



Contents xv 

PAGE 

letter describing march to Warrenton. — General McClellan 
superseded in command of the Army of the Potomac by 
General Burnside 198-216 

CHAPTER XX 
The Battle of Fredericksburg 

[w. R. VOL. XXI.] 

Location of the army. — McClellan's opinion of its condition. — 
Burnside's plan of campaign disapproved by Halleck. — 
Another assented to by the President. — Further changes 
without approval of the President. — Three Grand Divisions 
organized. — March to Falmouth. — Belle Plain. — White Oak 
Church. — Burnside disapproves request of Hooker and 
Sumner to cross the Rappahannock. — Battle of Fredericks- 
burg. — Burnside reports the condition of his army. — His 
attempts to engage the enemy and failures. — Assumed com- 
mand reluctantly. — Did the best he could. — Failure not 
chargeable to subordinates 217-225 

CHAPTER XXI 
Hooker in Command 
[w. e. vol. xxv.] 
President Lincoln's letter. — Condition of the army. — Reorgani- 
zation and salutary reforms. — Corps badges. — Submitted 
plans of campaign to the President. — Instructions to cavalry 
commander. — President reviews the army. — Hooker submits 
plan for campaign. — A soldier's equipments. — Operations 
delayed by rains. — ^The President's misgivings 226-232 

CHAPTER XXII 

The Battle of Chancellorsville 

[w. R. vol. XXV.] 

Advance of the cavalry. — Concentrating the Fifth, the Eleventh, 
the Twelfth Corps, and Pleasonton's Cavalry at Chancellors- 
ville. — Hooker assumes command at Chancellorsville. — 
Issues orders to advance to Tabernacle Church. — When the 
troops were in sight of the position, ordered back. — Protest 
of corps commanders against withdrawal. — A good position 
abandoned for a bad one. — Awaits an attack. — Enemy march 
across his front for three hours. — Overwhelm his right wing. 
— One-half of his army fighting. — Other half awaiting orders 



xvi Contents 

PAGE 

to go in, which never were issued. — Firing line falls back £or 
want of ammunition. — Retires the army to a new line. — 
Casualties 233-244 

CHAPTER XXIII 
The Battles of Marye's Heights and Salem Church 

[w. R. VOL. XXV.] 

Disposition of the Left Wing. — Two corps withdrawn and sent 
to the right wing. — Sixth Corps united south of the Rappa- 
hannock. — Sedgwick with the Sixth Corps ordered to join 
Hooker at Chancellorsville. — Drove Early's division from 
start to Marye's Heights. — Battle of Marye's Heights. — 
Capturing fortifications with the bayonet. — -Advance to Salem 
Church vigorously opposed. — Battle of Salem Church.^ 
Enemy greatly reinforced. — The enemy on three sides of the 
Sixth Corps. — Crosses the Rappahannock. — -Captures. — • 
Losses 245-249 

CHAPTER XXIV 

The Chancellorsville Campaign reviewed 

[w. R. VOL. XXV.] 

Preliminary operations successfully carried out. — Change from 
an offensive to a defensive campaign. — The mistakes sever- 
ally noted. — Not advancing at daylight. — Retiring from a 
good position. — Not fighting all his army on the 2nd and 3rd 
of May. — Remaining inactive while troops were sent from 
his front to overwhelm Sedgwick. — Recrossing the Rappa- 
hannock without fighting his army. — Leaving of General 
Butterfield at Falmouth. — Excellent work of Sedgwick and 
the Sixth Corps. — With Hooker's co-operation Lee's army 
might have been beaten. — Casualties. — Stonewall Jackson as a 
fighter. — Compared with John Paul Jones. — General Horace 
Porter. — President Roosevelt. — Stonewall Jackson's grandson 
at West Point. — Hooker's one mistake in a brilUant career. — 
One sentence of President Lincoln's letter to Hooker the 
most unfortunate of all his writings 250-262 

CHAPTER XXV 
Salem Heights. The Sixteenth's Last Battle 
Two years' regiments from New York in the Army of the Poto- 
mac. — Much concern as to their willingness to fight on eve 
of muster out. — No doubt as to the prompt response of the 



Contents xvii 

PAGE 

Sixteenth. — Their desire to meet early antagonists. — The 
captured horse. — Splendid conduct of the regiment. — Chap- 
lain Hall. — His character, courage and devotion. — Awarded 
a Medal of Honor. — Chaplains non-combatants 263-267 

CHAPTER XXVI 

Under the Enemy's Fire 
'How did you feel when going into battle? — Few think of death. 
— ^The last thing to think about. — No two men affected with 
same feelings. — Disturbing sensations at the opening of 
battle. — Stoic feeHngs in the fury of contest. — Men not bru- 
talized in fierce struggle over flags or guns. — The worst 
position is to be under fire and not able to return it. — Few 
cowards in action. — Found among bullies and braggarts. — 
Self-respecting, modest men the bravest. — Presentiments. — 
Improvement in the implements of war. — Great effectiveness 
of modern arms. — Casualties in our Civil War the greatest 
recorded in history 268-273 

CHAPTER XXVII 

Medical Care and Hospital Life 
Medical Department neglected by Congress. — United States San- 
itary Commission. — The Wilso7i Small. — Commission staff. — 
First hospital chaplain. — Lieutenant Corbin's tribute to Mrs. 
Rowland. — The Knickerbocker. — Miss Gilson. — Fairfax Street 
Hospital. — Doctor Robertson's letter to Mrs. Howland. — 
Chaplain Hopkins's visit. — Special care of the sick and 
wounded of the Sixteenth. — "Mortally Wounded." — Women 
nurses in army hospitals. — Mrs. Woolsey's instructions to a 
■'would-be army nurse." — Surgical pretenders. — "The hospi- 
tal a part of the battle field" 274-289 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

The Sixth Corps 
The Sixteenth its senior regiment. — The author's affection for 
its commanders. — Generals Franklin, Slocum, Kearny, New- 
ton. Hancock, Brooks, Davidson, "Baldy" Smith, his ser- 
vices in saving the army from starvation and capture. — 
Generals Sedgwick, Wright, Torbert, Bartlett, David A. 
Russell. — Russell's heroic conduct when mortally wounded. 
— Meritorious conduct of Generals Bidwell, Burnham, Cobb, 
Jackson and Shaler. — Colonel Redfield Proctor the most dis- 



xviii Contents 



PAGE 



tinguished member of the Sixth Corps in Civil Life.-Gcneral 
Calvin E. Pratt.— An incident in liis poUtical Ufa.— Generals 
McMahon, Arnold and Ayres.-Colonels Piatt and Tomkins. 
—Surgeons O'Leary, Hamihon, Stevens and Housen.— 
Colonels Sturdevant, Scofield, Tolles and Major W. H. 
Daniels.— Heavy losses in battle.— Organizations named- 
Three hundred fighting regiments.— Colonel W. F. Fox's 
tribute to the corps 290-301 

CHAPTER XXIX 
The Muster out of the Sixteenth New York 
The transferred men.— Promises to not observed.- Extracts from 
compUmentary orders of brigade, division and corps com- 
manders.— Respect and affection felt by the regiment for 
Colonel and Mrs. Howland.— Presentation of sword and 
Bible.— White Oak Church to Albany.— Reception by 
Governor Seymour.— Addresses.— Colonel Seaver's fareweU 
order.— Members go home and re-enUst for the war . . . 302-313 

CHAPTER XXX 
MH.ITARY Efficiency and How to Promote it 
Members accounted for.— The efficient and the inefficient.— 
Losses compared with those of other regiments of the State, of 
the Union armies. Confederate, and of foreign armies.— 
Members accounted for forty-four years and ten months after 
muster into United States service.— Proportion taken to the 
firing Une.— The age of efficiency.— Need of better medical 
care.— Prompt recognition of meritorious conduct essential 
to the highest efficiency 314-321 

CHAPTER XXXI 
The Roster of the Sixteenth New York 

Roster giving age, height and military record ^TZ^T 

Appendix A, Nominal List of Casualties 3239 

. Appendix B, Civil Records 377I383 

Index •> * 



PORTRAITS. 

Major-General Newton Martin Curtis, Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Major-General Thomas A. Davies . . 22 

Brigadier-General Joseph Rowland . 90 

Brigadier-General Joel J. Seaver . 210 



From 
Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



CHAPTER I 

SECESSION 

FOLLOWING the secession of the seven States which 
united to form the Confederate States' Government, 
organized at Montgomery, Alabama, February 8, 1861, every 
fort, arsenal and other property of whatever kind, 
under the exclusive control of officers of the United States 
within the limit of said States, had been surrendered on 
demand of State or Confederate officials, until April nth, 
when Major Anderson, commanding Fort Sumter in the 
harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, refused to strike his 
flag and abandon the fort.^ In the early hours of Friday, 
the 12th of April, 1861, the first shot was fired upon the 
flag of the United States, floating above the ramparts of 
Fort Sumter, and the greatest internecine war recorded in 
history was begun. The bombardment continued for two 
days, when Major Anderson gave notice that he would, on 
the following day, salute his flag and withdraw his forces from 
the fort. On April 15th, the President issued his procla- 
mation, commanding the persons composing the combination 
formed against the authority of the United States, to disperse. 



' Fortress Monroe and Fort Pickens were the only forts within the 
seceding States, which were not surrendered during the war. 



2 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

and to retire peaceably to their respective abodes within 
twenty days from that date. He called for seventy-five 
thousand mihtia of the several States to repress said com- 
bination, and to cause the laws to be duly executed, and 
summoned Congress to convene in extra session on the 4th 
of July. The Secretary of War, under an Act of Congress 
approved by Washington on February 28, 1795, requested 
the executives of the several States to detach from the mih- 
tia of their States the quotas designated by him ; that of New 
York was thirteen thousand two hundred and eighty offi- 
cers and men. The legislature of New York was in session, 
and, although a concurrent resolution had been adopted, 
specifying the next day as that for final adjournment, this 
resolution was rescinded, and the military committees of the 
Assembly and of the Senate prepared that evening, and re- 
ported to each House the next morning, the bill which was 
enacted the same day (April 16, 1861), "Authorizing the 
enrolhng and mustering into service of the state, for two 
years, unless sooner discharged, a number of volunteers 
not to exceed thirty thousand men; the said force to be 
in addition to the present miUtary organizations of the state, 
and a part of the mihtia thereof." 

On the 18th of April, Governor Morgan issued his proc- 
lamation calhng for seventeen regiments of seven hundred 
and eighty men each, designating New York, Albany, and 
Elmira as places of rendezvous. On the 25th of April, the 
Governor issued a second proclamation, calhng for twenty- 
one regiments, in addition to the seventeen called for on the 
1 8th. Under these proclamations, thirty-eight regiments 
of infantry were organized between the 23rd day of April 
and the nth day of June; the Fifteenth was subsequently 
changed to the Fifteenth Engineers, and the Nineteenth, 
to the Third Artillery. These, with other independent 
military organizations, consisting of regiments and battal- 



Secession 2 

ions of infantry, regiments of engineers, regiments and bat- 
teries of artillery, regiments and companies of cavalry, 
equalling in all three hundred full regiments, numbering 
four hundred thousand men, were furnished by the State 
of New York between the first call for troops and the close 
of the Civil War. 

As soon as the telegraphic dispatches announced the fall 
of Fort Sumter, and that the President had called for seventy- 
five thousand troops with which to enforce the laws and to 
recover United States property, forcibly seized, the people 
of Northern New York, in advance of the action of the 
legislature, proceeded to take preliminary steps to organize 
companies for the Nation's defense. 

War Meeting in Ogdensburg 

The first war meeting was held in the streets of Ogdens- 
burg, soon after the dispatch had been received announcing 
the capitulation of Fort Sumter. Mr. Henry R. James, 
editor of the Ogdensburg Journal, took the dispatch to the 
comer of Ford and Isabella Streets, mounted a dry-goods box, 
and read it to the people on the street. The news spread 
rapidly, and to those assembled Mr. James gave notice 
that enrolling papers were being printed at his office, and 
that all who wished to volunteer, to serve for six months in 
aiding the President in enforcing the laws, would be given 
an opportunity to sign their names to the roll. Persons 
who had come from the near-by towns for the transaction 
of business were requested to give notice that volunteers 
would be accepted until a company was organized. Mr. 
James stated that he would go at once to Depeyster and 
ask the people of that town to join in raising the proposed 
company at the earliest day. A number of men signed the 
roll promising to enlist for six months, but on the 19th, 



4 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

when the copies of the Act of April i6th were received in 
Ogdensburg, Mr. James and a few others announced their 
inabiUty to abandon their business for two years, and it was 
decided that no further steps to organize a company for 
six months' service would be taken. When the company 
proposed by Mr. James was abandoned, a new one, started 
by those wilUng to enhst for a term of two years, was organ- 
ized and officers were elected, on Monday evening, April 22, 
1 86 1. A great impetus had been given to enlistment in 
Ogdensburg by David A. Nevin, who had returned home, 
on the day the first company was abandoned, from the 
Indian Territory, where he had been employed as a clerk 
in the office of an army quartermaster. Mr. Nevin was a 
native of St. Lawrence County, the son of a well-known 
resident of Ogdensburg, and his offer to go in command 
of the company was promptly accepted. He was unani- 
mously elected Captain; Peter L. Van Ness, First Lieuten- 
ant; Charles L. Jones, Second Lieutenant; with a full 
complement of non-commissioned officers, musicians, and 
sixty-four privates, whose names appear in Company A 
roster. Sixteenth New York. At a meeting held the same 
evening, a committee was appointed, consisting of David C. 
Judson, Chairman, William C. Brown, Norman Sackrider;, 
WilHam J. Averell, and Ela N. Merriam, Secretary, to 
disburse $2,600 then raised for the benefit of the famihes 
of the volunteers. On April 24th, the company left by 
the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad for Rouse 
Point, thence by steamer to Whitehall and by rail to Al- 
bany, where it arrived on the 25 th, and was accepted the 
same day. 

The company organized in Ogdensburg on the 22nd of 
April did not include all in that village, and in the vicinity, 
who wished to go to the war. Immediately after the com- 
pletion of the first company, steps were taken to form another. 



Secession 5 

This company was soon filled, and selected the following 
officers: David L. Bartlett, Captain; Albert S. Seely, First 
Lieutenant; Horatio G. Goodno, Second Lieutenant; with 
a full complement of non-commissioned officers, musicians, 
and sixty-four privates, whose names can be found on the 
muster roll of Company K, Eighteenth New York. The 
company left Ogdensburg May 3rd, and arrived in Albany 
on the 4th. 

War Meeting in Depeyster 

Several Depeyster farmers were in Ogdensburg when the 
news of the surrender of Fort Sumter was received, and heard 
the announcement that Henry R. James would address a 
meeting in their town that evening, to ask their co-operation 
in raising a company under the call of the President. As 
they returned home, they spread the news, so that it reached 
all parts of the town. The meeting, held in the Methodist 
Church, was presided over by Captain Benjamin Eastman, 
an old line Whig, a Protectionist and an active RepubUcan 
worker, one of the best informed and most respected men 
in the town. Prayer was offered by the pastor. Reverend 
Horace M. Danforth, and Mr. James was introduced. He 
gave a plain statement of the facts of the surrender of Fort 
Sumter, the call of the President for troops, and the steps 
taken in Ogdensburg to organize a company for six months' 
service; he then asked the young men of the town to join 
with them and raise the company to the maximum as soon 
as possible. He further stated that twelve or fourteen men 
would be received from Depeyster, and that it was doubt- 
ful if more than one company from the county would be 
required. 

After Mr. James had spoken, several prominent citizens 
were called upon by the chairman, but none responded. 
Captain Eastman mistook their modest reluctance for want 



6 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

of patriotism, and very vehemently expressed his regret that 
those who should speak at this time remained silent. Had 
he called for subscriptions for the prosecution of the war, 
they would have responded promptly and liberally; they 
were good contributors, but not talkers. The captain 
then said that he would like to hear from a young man who 
had the courage of his convictions, although his political 
convictions were all bad, and asked Martin Curtis to give 
his opinion as to what action should be taken at this crisis. 

I said that patriotism was of no party, and regretted that 
the question of party pohtics should be raised when there 
was nothing to be considered but the preservation of the 
Union. I then advised that a regiment for the war be at 
once organized in St. Lawrence County. The last state- 
ment brought out the declaration that there would be no 
war if the slightest show of decisive action were made by 
the Administration, and that all that was required was to 
give the Administration moral support; hence one company 
from the county would be sufficient for that purpose. It 
was further stated that the South did not mean to precipi- 
tate war. To this I replied that the South had inaugurated 
what I beheved would be a great war, one that would test 
the resources of the country as never before; and that if, 
in bringing it to a successful conclusion, the County of 
St. Lawrence was not called upon to furnish more than half 
a dozen regiments, I should be glad. How well this predic- 
tion, made April 15, 1861, was verified is shown in the num- 
ber of men furnished by the county, — more than enough to 
fill eight regiments to the maximum of those organized under 
the first call.^ 

I gave notice that a meeting of those who were willing to 
aid in raising a company in Depeyster would be held in 

' See page 176. 



Secession 7 

Mason's Tavern after the adjournment; the pastor was 
called upon, and he urged the organization of a regiment; 
at the next call he proved loyal to his counsel, volunteered, 
and was promoted to a captaincy in the Sixth New York 
Heavy Artillery. At the meeting held in Mason's Tavern 
that night, fifteen volunteered to go to the war. 

A later meeting in Depeyster was addressed by James 
C. Spencer and Daniel Magone, two young and active dem- 
ocratic lawyers of Ogdensburg. On April 26th a meeting 
for organization was held, at which Captain Eastman pre- 
sided; the Town Hall was filled, the centre seats being occu- 
pied by the volunteers. The chairman asked the company 
to name candidates and vote for the officers ; Newton Martin 
Curtis was chosen Captain; John Snyder, First Lieutenant; 
WilHam L. Best, Second Lieutenant; with a full complement 
of non-commissioned officers, musicians, and sixty-four 
privates, whose names will be found in Company G roster. 
Sixteenth New York. Soon after sunrise on May 2nd, 
the company met at the Town Hall with Captain Eastman 
in the chair. Miss Helen Tuttle presented to the company 
a purse containing four hundred dollars, from the women 
of Depeyster, in place of a flag which they had been disap- 
pointed in obtaining. The company proceeded to the village 
of Ogdensburg, where they formed at the Baldwin House, 
kept by a brother-in-law of Major-General John E. Wool, 
U. S. A., and, before being marched to the railroad station, 
were halted in front of Norman's hat store, where James C. 
Spencer, United States Attorney for the district, presented 
each member with a cap. These checked gingham caps 
were worn until the men were clothed by the State. 

In passing the Judson Bank, on the way to the train, the 
Honorable David C. Judson, the man on whose motion 
Silas Wright was made secretary of the Democratic County 
Convention of St. Lawrence County, the first recognition he 



8 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

received from that party, in which he exercised for the rest 
of his Hfe a great and commanding influence, came out of 
the bank and gave me a handful of blank checks, with the 
request that I would fill them up if money should be needed 
for myself or for the company, with the assurance that they 
would be taken care of when presented to the bank. It 
happened in the progress of the war that this promise was 
tested to the amount of more than thirty thousand dollars 
in excess of my deposits. This was occasioned by the fail- 
ure of a paymaster to accept the money paid to the members 
of my regiment for their services, for which I had given them 
checks on the Judson Bank to the amount above stated. It 
was two weeks after the giving of the checks before I was 
able to exchange the money, at Fort Monroe, for drafts on 
the Sub-Treasury at New York City, with which to reim- 
burse Mr. Judson for the payment he had made on the 
checks presented to the bank. 

Meanwhile the same patriotic impulse had roused the 
citizens of many other towns, and companies had been 
formed at Malone, at Plattsburgh and other centres. At 
Malone our train stopped for lunch, and the members of 
the company were the guests of the Honorable William A. 
Wheeler, President of the Ogdensburg and Lake Champ- 
lain Railroad Company, and Representative in Congress 
from the Clinton-Franklin district. Captain J. J. Seaver 
paraded his company, whose formation will be described a 
little further on, and gave three cheers as the train pulled 
out, promising to follow the next week. At Rouse Point 
a steamer was taken for Whitehall, touching at Plattsburgh, 
where Captain John L. Stetson with several of his newly 
enrolled company, later company E of the Sixteenth, came 
aboard and promised to follow the next day. From 
Whitehall the company proceeded by rail, arriving in Albany 
on the morning of May 3rd, and I applied to the Adjutant- 



Secession 9 

General of the State for quarters. When asked for authori- 
zation papers, I stated that I had none, except a letter from 
Major- General S. F. Judd, commanding the militia of North- 
em New York, under whose instructions the company had 
been formed and had proceeded to the capital. General 
Read said that General Judd had no authority to give such 
instructions and that the company could not be accepted. 
The interview ended by General Read's taking me to Gov- 
ernor Morgan, who expressed his regret that the company 
had come to Albany without orders or authorization from 
the Adjutant-General, and advised me to return home, as 
the companies, formed under the provisions of General Orders 
No. 13, were arriving faster than suitable quarters could be 
provided. I assured him that the company would not return 
home ; if not accepted by the State, it would go on to Wash- 
ington; and that, until the question was settled, they ought 
to be provided with quarters and provisions. Mayor 
Thatcher, who was in the Executive Chamber at the time, 
offered to give the company quarters in the City Hall. His 
friendly interest, together with the request of Dr. Socrates N. 
Sherman, Representative in Congress, and that of Attorney- 
General Charles G. Myers, both from St. Lawrence, doubt- 
less did much to procure the orders of May 6th, authorizing 
N. Martin Curtis to organize a company of volunteers under 
the provisions of General Orders No. 13. This was accom- 
plished as soon as the signatures of the men in the City Hall 
could be aflfixed to the enrollment papers. The next day, 
General John F. Rathbone, commanding the Albany rendez- 
vous, inspected the company and presided at an election 
of officers, and on filing his return of the election with the 
Adjutant- General, the company was accepted, May 7th, 
with the same officers selected on April 26th. 

Some amusing comments were made by those who saw 
the company march through the streets of Albany. The pro- 



lo Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

prietor of the Delavan House, who had the contract for feed- 
ing the volunteers, called the attention of a friend to the 
fact that the company had a dozen men over six feet, and 
that the Captain was half a foot taller, thin as a shingle, 
straight as an arrow, and, that, if his head were chalked, 
he would make a good billard cue. The average height of 
the members of the Sixteenth was about one inch above that 
of the regiments organized under the first call, and the 
Depeyster company was three quarters of an inch taller than 
the average height of the regiment. 

War Meeting in Potsdam 

Early on the morning of April i6th, Wilson Hopkins, 
George L. Eastman, John C. Gilmore, and John A. Vance 
met in the law office of Dart and Tappan, at Potsdam, and 
drew up a call for a mass meeting to be held in the Town 
Hall on the afternoon of the 17th. This call was printed 
and circulated, and at the hour designated the hall was filled. 
Judge Henry L. Knowles was made chairman. At the hour 
of meeting, the train arrived from the south, bringing among 
its passengers the Honorable Edwin A. Merritt, Member 
of Assembly from the second district of St. Lawrence, who 
had left Albany after the passage, on the i6th of April, 
of the act "To authorize the embodying and equipment 
of a volunteer militia, and to provide for the public defence." 
He brought a copy of the act with him, and was invited to 
address the meeting, and to inform his hearers of the purposes 
and wishes of the officials at the capital. 

Other speakers also addressed the meeting, one of whom 
was James M. Pomeroy, who had come on the train with 
Mr. Merritt. He was not a resident of the county, but had 
spoken in the presidential campaign in i860, and had rela- 
tives engaged in business at Potsdam. He was very elo- 



Secession ii 

quent and aroused great enthusiasm when he pointed to the 
national flag and asked, " who among these young men will 
go with me to uphold the honor and glory of our national 
emblem?" "I will!" said Horace H. Raymond, and he 
was followed by forty-seven others. A sum of $3,500 was 
raised and placed in the hands of a committee to be dis- 
bursed for the benefit of the families of those who volunteered. 
The next meeting was held on the 19th, and the Hon- 
orable Edward W. Foster was made chairman. At this 
meeting a company was formed, and James M. Pomeroy 
was elected Captain; Wilson Hopkins, First Lieutenant; 
and George L. Eastman, Second Lieutenant; with a full 
complement of non-commissioned officers, musicians, and 
sixty-four privates, whose names appear on Company B 
roster, Sixteenth New York. On the 25th, the company 
was presented with a national flag and left for Albany, 
where it arrived on the 26th, and was accepted on the 30th 
of April. When Captain Pomeroy had selected, from the 
volunteers, a sufficient number to complete his company, it 
was found that there were enough men anxious to go to form 
another company, and steps to that end were immediately 
taken. John C. Gilmore was elected Captain; John A. 
Vance, First Lieutenant, and Joseph Holbrook, Second Lieu- 
tenant; with a full complement of non-commissioned officers, 
musicians, and sixty-four privates, whose names appear 
on Company F roster. Sixteenth New York. The com- 
pany left for Albany on the 3rd, arrived on the 4th, and 
was accepted on the 7th of May. 

War Meeting in Gouverneur 

On the 1 8th of April, printed notices, announcing that 
a war meeting would be held that evening in Van Buren's 
Hall, signed by order of committee, were posted in the village 



12 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

of Gouverneur. The hall was packed, and many were unable 
to gain admission; Mr. Charles Anthony was called to the 
chair, and stated that the meeting awaited a proposition 
from the committee. It then became known that Albert M. 
Barney and Charles M. Bowne had issued the call. Mr. 
Barney arose and presented the following pledge: "We, the 
undersigned, pledge to form a company of volunteers for 
active service, under the call of the President of the United 
States, and under the laws of the State of New York and the 
regulations made in pursuance thereof." Placing his name 
to the paper he handed it to the Secretary. Cheer upon 
cheer followed, then William H. Walling and many others 
added their names. 

Albert M. Barney, George Parker, and William H. Walling 
then proceeded to visit Fowler, Hammond and Rossie, 
and obtained recruits in each town. Mr. Charles Anthony 
went to Albany, and procured an order to have General 
Noble S. Elderkin inspect the company and preside at an 
election of officers. This was done by General Elderkin on 
May 2nd, when the following were elected officers: George 
Parker, Captain; Albert M. Barney, First Lieutenant; Robert 
P. Wilson, Second Lieutenant; with a full complement of 
non-commissioned officers and sixty-four privates, whose 
names appear on Company D roster. Sixteenth New York. 

On the 6th of May, the citizens from the surrounding 
country assembled in front of the hotel of Colonel James M. 
Spencer, to witness the ceremonies before the company took 
its departure for Albany. Miss CaroHne Sharp, on behalf 
of the women of Gouverneur, presented a beautiful silk 
flag, Mrs. Cornelius A. Parker a bouquet of flowers, and 
Peter Horr, an aged veteran of the War of 1812, a purse 
containing one hundred dimes, which he had saved from 
the sale of his bounty land to be used in paying his funeral 
expenses, "but," said he, "it shall go to help those who fight 



Secession 



13 



for my country, though my bones bleach upon the sand." 
To all these presentations the captain responded briefly, 
the Reverend B. B. Beckwith offered a short prayer, giv- 
ing as a final benediction the never-to-be-forgotten injunc- 
tion, ''Trust in God and keep your powder dry;" and with 
cheers and salvos of artillery the company marched to the 
station, took the afternoon train, and arrived in Albany the 
next morning, having been accepted on May 2nd, the date 
of its inspection by General Elderkin. 

War Meeting in Stockholm 

On the publication of Governor Morgan's proclamation 
calhng for volunteers, a meeting was held in the Town Hall, 
at Stockholm Centre. The Honorable Daniel Shaw was 
called to the chair, and stated that the object of the meeting 
was to consult as to what action the people of Stockholm 
should take in the present crisis. After some remarks by 
several leading men, Warren Gibson, one of the active and 
prominent business men of the town, rose and said, — "Action 
is better than words. I propose that we raise a company 
in this town, and I promise to be one of its members." He 
was followed by Archibald S. Tucker and many others in 
the hall. Following this meeting, Mr. Gibson, Mr. Tucker, 
and several others who volunteered at that time visited 
Brasher, Lawrence, and Norfolk, inviting others to join 
the company, and obtained volunteers in each town. When 
a sufficient number had been enrolled to form a company, 
they met for organization, in the basement of the Methodist 
Church in West Stockholm. Warren Gibson was chosen 
Captain; Alanson M. Barnard, First Lieutenant; and Archi- 
bald S. Tucker, Second Lieutenant; wdth a full complement 
of non-commissioned officers, musicians, and sixty-four 
privates, whose names appear on Company H roster, Six- 



14 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

teenth New York. Charles Hancock, of Potsdam, who 
had served in the regular army, gave the company some 
useful advice, and instructed the officers as to their places 
and duties. Two days later, the company marched to the 
village of Potsdam, and was inspected by a miUtia officer and 
Charles Hancock. On Friday morning. May 3rd, the com- 
pany met in the Methodist Church of West Stockholm, and 
John S. Thompson, on behalf of the women of Stockholm, 
presented a flag made by their own hands; Second Lieu- 
tenant Tucker thanked the donors. Relatives and neigh- 
bors of the members of the company were at the door of the 
church with carriages and wagons to carry them to North 
Stockholm, where they took the train for Albany, via Rouse 
Point, steamer to Whitehall; thence by cars to Albany, 
and arriving May 4th they were accepted May 7th. 

War Meeting in Plattsburgh 

On the afternoon of the i6th day of April, 1861, Phny 
Moore, grandson of General Benjamin Mooers who had 
commanded the miUtia in the battle of Plattsburgh, Septem- 
ber II, 1 8 14, called upon FrankHn Palmer, arid suggested 
that steps be taken to raise a company of volunteers under 
the President's call. The proposition was agreed to, and 
the following notice was printed and circulated in the village 
of Plattsburgh and adjoining towns: — 

"CITIZENS TAKE NOTICE! 

"The citizens of Plattsburgh are requested to meet at the 
Court House, Wednesday evening, the 17 th, to take into con- 
sideration the matter of immediate action in sustaining the Con- 
stitution and the laws of our country. Also for the purpose of 
forming a volunteer company in this town, to be attached to a 
regiment organized in the county. A general attendance is 
requested." 



Secession 15 

At the time designated, the court room was filled by men 
representing all political parties. Judge Lemuel Stetson, 
who had been a delegate from the district to the Democratic 
Convention which met in Charleston, South Carolina, and 
later at Baltimore, Maryland, in i860, was called to preside. 
On taking the chair, he said: "In this crisis all party feeling 
should be put aside, and every one stand for the preserva- 
tion of the Union and with the Administration in enforc- 
ing the laws and recovering the property of the United States 
unlawfully seized." Several others spoke in the same strain. 
FrankHn Palmer proposed that steps be taken to organize 
a company under the call of the President, and produced 
a paper pledging those who should sign it to volunteer. He 
signed it first and thirty-four others added their names. 
These men then retired to another room in the Court House 
and elected Franklin Palmer, Captain; Royal Corbin, 
First Lieutenant; PUny Moore, Second Lieutenant; and 
later enHstments increased the number to a full comple- 
ment of non-commissioned officers, musicians, and sixty- 
four privates, whose names appeared on Company C roster. 
Sixteenth New York. 

A second meeting was held in the Court House on April 
20th. WilHam Palmer was called to the chair; Colonel R. G. 
Stone, F. L. C. Sailly, and Patrick Eagan were chosen vice- 
presidents. Captain Franklin Palmer and John L. Stetson 
were chosen secretaries; Thomas Armstrong, Daniel S. 
McMasters, Henry S. Johnson, George M. Beckwith, John 
L. Stetson, and Judge Lemuel Stetson, addressed the meeting. 
D. S. McMasters, George H. Beckwith, and H. S. Johnson 
were appointed a committee to provide for the expenses of 
the volunteers until their services were accepted by the State, 
and the sum of $2335 was raised for that purpose. 

Colonel Putnam Lawrence of the State militia, under orders 
of the Adjutant- General of the State, inspected and presided 



i6 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

at the election of officers of the first company of Plattsburgh 
on the 25th day of April. The next day it took the night 
boat for Whitehall, thence by railway to Albany, arrived 
April 27th, and was accepted on the 30th. 

After the adjournment of the meeting held on the 20th, 
a second company was organized and the following officers 
were elected: John L. Stetson, Captain; Ransom M. Pierce, 
First Lieutenant; and Charles H. Bentley, Second Lieu- 
tenant; with a full complement of non-commissioned offi- 
cers, musicians, and sixty-four privates, whose names appear 
in Company E roster. Sixteenth New York. The second 
company left Plattsburgh by the night boat on May 3rd, 
arrived at Albany on the 4th, and was accepted on the 7th of 
May. 

War Meeting in Chazy 

When Governor Morgan's proclamation of April 18, 1861, 
was pubUshed, Wallace W. Wood, a manufacturer of lumber 
at Wood's Falls, stated to his employees in the mill that he 
intended to organize a company under the call, and that he 
would take as many single men as chose to join the com- 
pany. Forty at once volunteered. He then traveled through 
the adjoining towns, obtaining the maximum number to 
organize a company. These men met at West Chazy on 
May ist, and elected Wallace W. Wood, Captain; John Mc- 
Fadden, First Lieutenant; Henry J. Carlton, Second Lieu- 
tenant; with a full complement of non-commissioned offi- 
cers, musicians, and privates, whose names appear in Com- 
pany K roster, Sixteenth New York. The Captain tele- 
graphed to the Adjutant- General at Albany that he had 
organized a company, and asked for instructions and trans- 
portation; but no orders having been received on the morn- 
ing of the 3rd, he took his company to Plattsburgh by rail, 
and by the evening boat to Whitehall; thence by rail to 



Secession 17 

Albany, where it arrived on the 4th, and took quarters in 
an unused church. The company was accepted on the 7th. 



War Meeting en Malone 

The first war meeting in FrankHn County was held in 
Malone, April 25th. Honorable Albert Andrus, an old 
time Democrat, presided, and the meeting was addressed 
by the Honorable William A. Wheeler, the Representative 
in Congress, Honorable Ashbel B. Parmelee and others, 
who made ringing speeches, exhorting all to give prompt 
and energetic support to the Administration in its purpose 
to enforce the laws. Joel J. Seaver, editor of The Malone 
Palladium, advised the enrolling of a company under the 
law recently passed by the legislature, and was the first to 
tender his services. Ten thousand dollars were raised to 
aid the families of those who should volunteer. 

Within a week the company, composed of representatives 
from nearly every town in FrankHn County, was organized 
by electing Joel J. Seaver, Captain; Frederick F. Wead, 
a brilhant young lawyer of Malone, First Lieutenant; and 
Milton E. Roberts, a young business man of Chateaugay, 
and a descendant of one of the first settlers of Northern New 
York, as Second Lieutenant ; with a full complement of non- 
commissioned officers, musicians, and sixty-four privates, 
for whom see roster of Company I, Sixteenth New York. 

While the recruiting was being carried forward, the women 
were busily engaged in scraping lint, making havelocks, 
and knitting socks. A flag was presented to the company 
by Miss Martha Lindsay, a member of the Franklin Academy, 
a sword to the captain, and a Bible to each member. On 
Sunday, the 5th of May, the company attended church in a 
body. On the 6th, it left for Albany, arrived on the 7th, 
and was accepted by the Mihtary Board the same day. 



CHAPTER II 

ORGANIZATION OF THE SIXTEENTH 

THE companies first arriving from Northern New York 
were invited to join in forming the third regiment, 
to be commanded by Colonel Frederick Townsend, but they 
declined all appUcations and stood out until ten companies 
should arrive from the north. On the evening of the 7th of 
May, representatives of the companies of Nevin, Pomeroy, 
Palmer, Parker, Stetson, Gilmore, Curtis, Gibson, Seaver, and 
Bartlett met, agreed to unite in forming a regiment, and 
adjourned until the 8th, when all the officers of the above 
mentioned companies met to decide upon the field ofl5cers, 
whom under the law they were authorized to select. 

It had been announced that the Honorable Amaziah B. 
James would be chosen Colonel, and George R. Myers, 
Major, of the regiment formed by the northern companies. 
The chief reason for choosing Judge James was that he had 
been a delegate to the Chicago Convention and one of the 
committee to notify Mr. Lincoln of his nomination, and 
would therefore be able to do more for the regiment than 
any other man. It was also intimated that he would not 
remain with the regiment should active hostiHties really be 
inaugurated, as he could not abandon his high judicial posi- 
tion for a colonelcy, but that, after taking the regiment 
to Washington and introducing it to the proper authori- 
ties, he would resume the duties of his position on the Bench, 

There was no personal opposition to Judge James, as he 
was known to be one of the most influential men in Northern 



Organization of the Sixteenth 19 

New York, but the young men in the regiment believed that 
they should have a colonel who would stay with them, and, 
if possible, one who could instruct them in the science and 
art of war. A committee was appointed to wait upon Major 
Delafield, U. S. A., later Brigadier- General, Chief of Engi- 
neers, who was at Albany, assisting Governor Morgan in 
organizing troops, and to consult him as to the best course 
for the officers to pursue. In announcing the object of their 
call, they stated that they thought it would be desirable 
to choose for their colonel a West Point graduate, or a man 
who had served in the Mexican War. He heartily approved 
of their proposition and suggested Henry W. Slocum of 
Syracuse, Thomas A. Davies of New York City, and EUsha 
G. Marshall of Rochester, all graduates of West Point. He 
also stated that Thomas A. Davies was a native of St. Law- 
rence County. Not one of the officers had ever seen Thomas 
A. Davies, and they knew nothing of him except what they 
had learned from Major Delafield. Two or three knew his 
brother John, a farmer on Black Lake, and a like number 
had met his brother. Judge Henry E. Davies of the Court 
of Appeals, while all had used the mathematical text books 
of another brother, Charles Davies, Professor in the U. S. 
Military Academy at West Point. 

It was known to a few of the officers that Dr. Socrates N. 
Sherman, Representative in Congress from St. Lawrence, 
was in Albany to secure the election of Judge James, and 
that he had the active support of Attorney- General Charles 
G. Myers, also from St. Lawrence. It was understood that 
these gentlemen would see to it that "the boys" made no 
mistake. The thirty officers of the companies above men- 
tioned met behind closed doors, and adopted the following 
resolutions : 

"Resolved: — That every one present at this meeting agrees to 
preserve as a profound secret the proceedings of this and all 



20 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

subsequent meetings relating to the organization of the regiment, 
until it is mustered into the United States service." 

"Resolved: — That in selecting officers no one shall be con- 
sidered who has not had a military education or seen active 
service." 

The roll was called on these resolutions separately, and 
they were unanimously adopted. The name of Judge 
James was presented, with the statement that he was edu- 
cated as a lawyer and had been a brigadier-general of mlH- 
tia. The question of qualification, under the previous 
resolution, was raised, and the chairman ruled out the can- 
didate, as ineligible. The name of Thomas A. Davies was 
proposed, with the statement that he had been educated 
at West Point, and had seen service in the regiment com- 
manded by Colonel Zachary Taylor. The vote was taken; 
twenty-seven votes were cast for Davies, and three for James. 

Dr. Samuel Marsh of Potsdam, New York, a graduate of 
a military school at Norwich, Vermont, and Buel Palmer, 
colonel of a militia regiment at Plattsburgh, were named 
for the office of lieutenant-colonel. No other names were 
presented, and an agreement was made that the one receiv- 
ing the larger number of votes should be made lieutenant- 
colonel, and the other candidate should be major of the 
regiment. Under this arrangement Dr. Samuel Marsh 
was elected Lieutenant-Colonel, and Buel Palmer, Major. 
The chairman of the meeting was directed to advise the 
Adjutant-General that the officers were ready to hold a 
formal meeting to elect officers for the regiment. 

Early on the morning of the 9th, Dr. Sherman charged 
me with bringing politics into the organization of a regiment 
from the strongest Republican section of the State, in that 
I had been instrumental in having a Democrat elected as 
colonel. It was then made known for the first time that 
Thomas A. Davies was a member of the Democratic party. 



Organization of the Sixteenth 21 

I had never thought of partisan politics, and had never heard 
the subject broached by a single oflficer of the regiment, 
although one-third of them were of the Democratic party. 
They had all been influenced solely by a desire to promote 
the public service, and to secure a colonel who was compe- 
tent and able to instruct them in their new profession. 

I was greatly incensed, and forthwith notified the other 
officers that Dr. Sherman was in full possession of all that 
had taken place at their secret meeting; whereupon a meet- 
ing was at once called and each officer asked if he had 
violated the pledge made the day before. As the roll call 
proceeded each one answered "NO," until the Second 
Lieutenant of Bartlett's company replied, " It's none of your 
d — d business, I do not intend to become the tail of a Demo- 
cratic kite." A resolution was at once passed, supported 
by twenty-seven "wptes, ejecting Captain Bartlett's com- 
pany from the regiment, and inviting Captain Wood's of 
Clinton County to join it. 

On the 9th, Brigadier- General Rathbone, commanding 
the Albany rendezvous, was ordered to preside at an election 
of field officers for the Sixteenth New York Infantry, com- 
posed of six companies from St. Lawrence, three from Clinton, 
and one from Franklin counties. General Rathbone filed 
his return of the election, and on the loth, the following 
order announcing the organization of the Sixteenth was 
issued : 

"General Headquarters State of New York, 
"Adjxjtant-General's Office, May loth, 1861. 

"Special Orders 

"No. 162. 

"On return of Brigadier- General Rathbone, commanding 
Albany Depot, of an election held pursuant to Special Orders 
No. 155 for choice of persons to fill the office of Colonel, Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel, and Major of the Sixteenth regiment, the following 



22 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

named persons having been chosen at such election are hereby 
assigned to such regiment and will be obeyed and respected 
accordingly: 

"Thomas A. Davies as Colonel, 
"Samuel Marsh as Lieutenant-Colonel, 
"BuEL Palmer as Major. 
" Colonel Davies will immediately report for duty to Brigadier- 
General Rathbone, and his regiment will be held in readiness to 
be mustered into the service of the United States. 
"By order of the Commander-in-Chief, 

"J. Meredith Read, Jr., Adjutant-General." 

On Sunday morning, May 12th, notice vp^as given that 
enlisted men could attend church in Albany, if accompanied 
by a commissioned oflficer, and that passes would be fur- 
nished on application of the captains of companies. No 
one in my company desired to attend church, except five or 
six Roman Catholics, and every ofiicer was physically or 
spiritually indisposed. I called on General Rathbone and 
requested that my men might be permitted to go to church 
in charge of a non-commissioned officer, assuming all re- 
sponsibiHty for their safe return, but the request was refused. 
I then asked for a pass for one of my men. It was made 
out in the name of a Roman Cathohc member, who carried 
the following note, addressed "To a Roman Catholic Priest": 

" Captain Curtis, quartered in the Industrial School Barracks, 
respectfully requests a Roman Catholic Priest to call at his 
quarters and minister to the members of his company, who are 
unable to leave the camp." 

In a very short time, a young priest called in response 
to the note and went among the members of the company, 
seeking out those of his faith for special attention and ad- 
monition, speaking to all kind words, and encouraging them 
in the faithful performance of their new duties. I did not 






E F.EVE T IvIAJ R GE N E R AL , U . 5 . V 



Organization of the Sixteenth 23 

learn the name of the young priest, but we met again many- 
years later; he was then in the splendid robes of his episco- 
pal office, the Right Reverend Edgar P. Wadhams, the first 
Roman Catholic bishop of Ogdensburg. This is no place 
to make an extended reference to the life and labors of this 
good man, but I am sure that throughout the diocese, where 
he ministered to the people of the struggling parishes for so 
many years, there is not one, Protestant or Roman CathoHc, 
who will not accord to him the qualities which are so beauti- 
fully set forth in Dryden's "Character of a Good Parson." 
If I could bestow higher praise I would gladly do it. 

The regular habits of home Hfe were greatly changed 
on our arrival in Albany. Steady occupation with a definite 
purpose, regular meals of nourishing food, airy chambers 
affording refreshing sleep, all gave way to idle, Ustless waiting, 
irregular meals of unwholesome food, and sleeping accommo- 
dations which were neither comfortable nor sanitary. On 
the day of muster, ten per cent, of the men had been dis- 
charged or were sick in hospital. 

John Snyder, First Lieutenant of the Depeyster company, 
became suddenly very ill; the post surgeon, mistaking an 
acute case of indigestion for heart disease, ordered his dis- 
charge, and he left us reluctantly. Snyder re-entered the 
service the same year, and for nearly three years performed 
acceptably the duties of first lieutenant and captain in 
the Sixtieth New York and the Fourteenth New York Heavy 
Artillery. He died thirty years after the War, well advanced 
in Hfe, and with an apparently sound heart. Simon C. 
Vedder of Plattsburgh, who was in Albany with a score of 
men anxious to join some regiment, was taken into the 
Depeyster company, in place of First Lieutenant John 
Snyder. 

No mistake was made in the selection of Thomas A. 
Davies for colonel, and many of those who were displeased 



24 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

with his election frankly admitted, later, that the judgment of 
the company officers proved better than the advice of some of 
the home friends. No one acquiesced in this opinion more 
cheerfully than did Dr. Sherman, whose long service in the 
field as surgeon of the Thirty-fourth New York Regiment 
and later of the United States Volunteers, gave him abund- 
ant opportunity to estimate the value of the services of an 
officer educated in the science and art of war. Dr. Sherman 
was a strict partisan, and had really believed it best for the 
regiment and for the public service to have a man elected 
colonel who was in full political accord with the Adminis- 
tration. He had not at that time dissociated partisan ac- 
tivities from military operations, but during the four years 
in which he held an important position in the army, and 
rendered a service that is gratefully remembered by thou- 
sands who came under his hands, he came thoroughly to 
understand that war could best be conducted by those edu- 
cated in military science. 

Great as was the service of Colonel Davies in drilling and 
disciplining the regiment, it will be conceded by all that his 
greatest service was in bringing to it, as adjutant, Joseph 
Rowland, of Dutchess County, whose capacity and judg- 
ment were at once manifest. Joseph Howland possessed, 
as a birthright, every quality requisite to the making of a 
soldier and a gentleman. He at all times possessed the 
confidence, respect and affection of those under his com- 
mand, and stood among the first in the esteem and con- 
sideration of his superiors. 

Surgeon William B. Crandall, of New York City, proved 
himself a competent and efficient ofi&cer and remained with 
the regiment until the end. Arthur de Windt, of Dutchess 
County, the quartermaster, might have proved himself able, 
had he remained with the regiment long enough to demon- 
strate his ability. Assistant-Surgeon John H. Mooers, of 



Organization of the Sixteenth 25 

Plattsburgh, was the only staff officer taken from Northern 
New York, and demonstrated his great skill and devotion; 
and while all were glad of his promotion as surgeon of the 
One Hundred and Eighteenth New York, his leaving was 
regarded as a great loss to the regiment. Sergeant-Major 
Frederick C. Tapley, a native of Massachusetts, had recently 
been discharged from the United States Dragoons, after 
completing an enlistment of five years, in which he had at- 
tained the same position into which he was mustered as a 
member of the Sixteenth. Quartermaster- Sergeant Charles 
F. Moore, and Fife-Major David N. Wetherby, were from 
Clinton County. Colonel Davies brought with him from 
New York the drum-major, Howard B. Utter. 

Gn May 15, 1861, Captain L. Sitgreaves, United States 
Engineers, and Captain Frank Wheaton, United States 
Cavalry, mustered the regiment into the United States Ser- 
vice, for the term of two years, unless sooner discharged. 

When my company was called out to take the oath, two 
men refused to be mustered into the United States Service, 
and General Rathbone ordered them to be drummed out of 
camp. When the lines of troops, between which they were 
to be marched, were formed, they weakened and offered to 
go into any regiment which the general might name; he 
declined to accept their offer and the ceremony proceeded. 
These boys went home, but not to stay; the next year I 
found them in the regiment under my command, and I recall 
with pleasure that they were good soldiers and proved, in 
every engagement, that they were really brave men. The 
only explanation which they ever gave as to the cause of 
their refusal to be mustered was this, — "We wanted to go 
home." These feelings were shared by many down to the 
close of the war, but in a few cases only did they cause men 
stealthily to leave the ranks. Drill, discipline, and active 
duty were the best antidotes for home-sickness. 



CHAPTER III 

PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTION IN THE ART OF WAR 

ON the 1 8th of May, the six companies in the Industrial 
School barracks, and four which were quartered in 
diflferent places in the city, were brought together in the 
new wood barracks and inducted into guard duty, and squad 
and company drills. Companies took turns in performing 
guard duty for one day, and all others were required to drill 
six hours daily, except Sunday. The officers were as igno- 
rant as the men in the ranks; they studied hard at night to 
learn the commands and their proper execution, and often 
carried a copy of Hardee's Tactics to help them out in hard 
places. Nevertheless, some very ludicrous movements took 
place ; one of the almost insurmountable difficulties being that 
of keeping step and learning to advance the left foot first. 
"Time and motions" tried their souls and muscles, and 
the comprehension of compound commands, the first part 
cautionary, the second executive, was especially difficult. 
An example may illustrate: — "Now, men, I will advance you 
in fine, every one will throw his shoulders back, look straight 
to the front, touch elbows to the right, and at the command, 
step off with the left foot; F-o-r-w-a-r-d (off the squad moves). 
No, I did not say march; when I say 'f-o-r-w-a-r-d,' stand 
still, when I say ^ march,'' step out with the left foot, and keep 
the step until I call 'halt.^'^ After two or three attempts 
he gets them off at the command ''March," but the step 
is soon lost, and he calls "Left, left, left," having instructed 
them that they are to bring the left foot to the ground when 



Preliminary Instruction in Art of War 27 

he calls "Left." "Now you have got it, no, you have lost it, 
left, left," and to vary the monotony he uses the old phrases, 
"left, left, I had a good home which I left, left, left. Oh! 
you are all mixed up again, Halt!" After an alignment, 
renewed efforts would be made to have it done "right this 
time." 

Ludicrous and amusing as it must have been to one 
familiar with the elementary lessons in the art of war, certain 
it is that the perseverance and patience exhibited by a squad 
of raw recruits, being instructed in military tactics by an 
officer as innocent as themselves, was a sight which would 
have caused the ancient Stoics to turn green with envy. 
Happily, neither instructor nor learner was conscious of his 
astounding absurdities; if they had been, no courage which 
they could have summoned would have carried them through 
the ordeal. The time came when they were so proficient 
in drill that they executed difficult movements on the field, 
in the face of battalions and batteries in action. Great as 
were their losses in performing these tactical feats, it is be- 
lieved that they would sooner have repeated these manoeu- 
vres in the face of an enemy, than have gone through, in 
the face of friends, the bungling exercises practised in their 
early days in Albany. The officers were not only ignorant 
of the tactics, but of every detail pertaining to mihtary affairs; 
the preparation of official reports and the making of requi- 
sitions for supplies were matters to be learned, and many 
surprising documents were, no doubt, sent in to headquarters. 
Whether any of them were as unique and as startling as the 
requisition for equipments made by the officers of a Light 
Artillery company in Madison County, in the War of 18 12, 
I am unable to state. Mr. Thurlow Weed, in his autobiog- 
raphy, states that the officers of this company were unable 
to make a requisition which was satisfactory to themselves, 
and finally submitted the subject to a village lawyer, the 



28 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

father of Mr. Luther R. Marsh, who became a distinguished 
lawyer in New York City. He presented the following, which 
was forwarded and promptly filled : 

"Great Daniel D., we send to thee 
For two great guns and trimmings! 

Send them to hand, or you'll be damned, 
By order of Captain Jennings." 

Governor Tompkins frequently showed it to his friends, as 
an interesting specimen of official correspondence connected 
with the organization and equipment of the militia of the 
State, in response to the calls of the Federal Authorities in 
the War of 1812. 

One hundred and fifty Springfield muskets of the pattern 
of 1840 were soon issued to the regiment; those not required 
for the use of the guard were distributed among the com- 
panies, to be used in practising the manual of arms. 

On June ist, the regiment, in company with the Twenty- 
eighth New York, under Colonel Donnelly, was moved into 
camp at Normand's Kill, Bethlehem, and commenced life 
under canvas. On the 15th, uniforms were received; this 
acquisition did much to improve the health and spirits of 
the men; nothing is more depressing to a respectable man, 
than to be placed in a position where he is made uncomforta- 
ble and unpresentable, by reason of deficient or worn out 
clothing. 

Colonel Davies notified the Reverend L. Merrill Miller, 
D.D., of the First Presbyterian Church of Ogdensburg, 
that he had been selected chaplain, and requested him to 
report for duty as early as possible. He came to our camp, 
but declined the appointment. The few days he spent with 
us, and the sermon which he preached on Sunday, made all 
regret that he was not to be the chaplain. His heart was in 
the work that the soldiers went out to perform, but the people 



Preliminary Instruction in Art of War 29 

of his large parish urged him not to leave them, even for the 
short time which it was then thought would be required to end 
the war. He did stay with them as active pastor for more 
than fifty years, during thirty of which I was a member of 
his congregation; in all these years he discharged faithfully 
the duties of his position, which ended only with the day of 
his death, in his eighty-third year. The beauty of his char- 
acter was such that his name has become a household word, 
and his memory is cherished by the people of all faiths as 
one whose life was both an example and a benediction. 
Reverend Royal B. Stratton, a native of St. Lawrence County, 
but at that time pastor of the Arbor Hill Methodist Epis- 
copal Church at Albany, was appointed chaplain; he preached 
one sermon in Camp Morgan, joined us in Virginia in Sep- 
tember, and, after preaching one sermon, resigned. He 
was a most eloquent and interesting speaker, and would 
doubtless have made an efficient chaplain had he been able 
to endure the exposure of camp life. 

On Sunday, the i6th of June, the regiment was paid for 
the time it had been in the State service. 

Governor Morgan reviewed the regiment on the 24th, and 
was entertained with a sham battle; the final charge was 
made with vociferous cheers, and the review might prop- 
erly have been called "a howHng success." On the morn- 
ing of the 25th, six hundred old Springfield muskets, of the 
same pattern as the hundred and fifty previously supplied, 
were issued, and in the afternoon the regiment marched 
to Albany and took passage on a steamer for the city of 
New York, arriving at the foot of Fourteenth Street early on 
the morning of the 26th. It marched to Broadway, down 
Broadway to 8th Street, and thence to Washington Square, 
where it was presented with a national flag and a stand of 
state colors, by Mr. Robert S. Hone, on behalf of Mrs. 
Joseph Howland, the wife of the adjutant. He said : — 



30 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

"Colonel Davies: — 

"It is my privilege to stand here this day as the representative 
of Mrs. Joseph Rowland, to present, in her name, these beauti- 
ful colors to the gallant regiment under your command. She 
wishes me to make this presentation in as few words as possible. 
Her heart is, as you know, full of the tenderest emotions at this 
moment of the departure of the Sixteenth Regiment for the seat 
of war, to take its full share of the perils, and to reap its full share 
of the glories of the campaign, and I can vouch for it that she, as 
fully as any of you, is doing her duty, making her sacrifice at the 
altar of her country. Your mission is a sacred one. You go 
forth, representatives of this great State, battling for the nation- 
ality of your country, ready to lay down your lives, if need be, 
for the maintenance of law and order, on which rest all the 
foundations of society. The safety, happiness and well being of 
yourselves, your families, your fellow-citizens, are dependent upon 
your success in this holy cause. Go forth, then, fearlessly and 
cheerfully, in the full assurance that the prayers of those you 
leave behind will daily ascend to the throne of Grace in your be- 
half, to nerve your arm, and to cheer your absent hours. I can- 
not more fittingly conclude than by quoting two lines from that 
beautiful hymn to the Flag of Our Country: — 

"Then conquer you must, for our cause it is just, 
And this be your motto, — 'In God is our trust.'" 

Colonel Davies, in accepting the appropriate gift, said that 
he also desired to thank Mrs. Rowland for her generous 
contribution of many articles needed by the regiment, before 
they were supplied by the State; then, holding the banner 
and flag before the regiment, he asked if they would defend 
and protect them. The response was an earnest of the valor 
and gallantry they afterwards displayed in making good their 
promise; during the service of the regiment more than a score 
of men in the color guard were killed or seriously wounded 
in holding the colors aloft, but never once were they lost, or 
touched by an enemy's hand. 



Preliminary Instruction in Art of War 31 

Substantial refreshments were brought by friends of the 
regiment, and John Percy of Plattsburgh presented several 
kegs of that moderately exhilarating beverage, mentioned by 
a patriotic German- American after taking the oath of service, 
"One flag, one constitution, one country, and zwei lager." 

In the afternoon, the regiment was marched to City Hall 
Park, where additional refreshments were furnished by 
the proprietor of the Astor House. Towards evening, it 
re-embarked for Elizabethport, New Jersey, and, the next 
day, took the Jersey Central train for Washington, via 
Harrisburg and Baltimore. Before entering Baltimore the 
train was stopped, and the regiment called out and ordered 
to load their muskets preparatory to marching through Bal- 
timore, at which place they arrived soon after sunrise on 
the 29th, and marched across the city to President Street 
station, before many of the residents were out of their houses. 

Adjutant Howland of the Sixteenth described the journey 
in a letter to his wife, as follows: — 

"Our journey on was a hard one. We reached Harrisburg 
late Friday p.m., and Baltimore at sunrise on Saturday. Our 
passage through Balitmore was unmolested,^ but was one of the 
most impressive scenes imaginable. We marched through about 
eight o'clock without music and with colors furled, in perfect 
silence, marching in quick time, only pausing once to rest. The 
streets were full of people, but we did not get one word of wel- 
come or a single smile except from two little girls in an upper 
window and half a dozen old darkies standing in door-ways. At 
the head of the column of eight hundred stern-faced men walked 
the colonel with his sword sheathed and a hickory stick in his 
hand. Once a rough fellow in the crowd (a city official) asked 



' "A few weeks before this the Sixth Massachusetts, crossing Balti- 
more to Washington Station were attacked by a furious mob of roughs, 
rebel sympathizers, and pelted with stones and brickbats. Two soldiers 
were killed and eight wounded." 



32 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

tauntingly, 'Where's your music?' and Colonel Davies gritting 
his teeth, replied, 'In our cartridge-boxes!' We were all fully 
armed and supplied with ammunition, and had received full in- 
structions how to act in case of an attack. 

"Tramp, tramp, tramp, went the Sixteenth through Baltimore 
in the early morning, and the crowd looked cold and bitter at us, 
and we looked stern and ready at them. All the road from 
Harrisburg to Washington is guarded by strong bodies of Federal 
troops, and they are needed." 

The regiment arrived in Washington before noon on the 
29th, and went into camp east and north of the Capitol, 
naming it "Camp Woolsey," in honor of Mrs. Charles Will- 
iam Woolsey, the mother of the adjutant's wife. Mrs. 
Woolsey, with her daughters, had, beside their attentions 
to the regiment, aided in organizing and furnishing the 
early army hospitals in New York and elsewhere. 

The common on which we pitched our tents was the feed- 
ing or play ground of goats, chickens, ducks, pigs, and pick- 
aniimies. While putting up the tents and collecting baggage 
from the train, one of those fearful rain storms, common 
in that section, descended upon the camp. Company G 
was in a deep depression, some feet lower than the ground 
occupied by the other companies, and a flood of water 
rushed down the company street, flooding my tent and 
floating my belongings. While trying to keep my tent and 
property from destruction, I was addressed by Lieutenant 
McFadden who occupied the tent on my right, — "It is for- 
tunate that it fell to your lot to take this depression, for a 
man of my height might have drowned, encamped in that 
place. If I die in the army, I certainly hope that it will 
be in battle, not drowned in a slough." On June 27, 1862, 
during the battle of Chickahominy while bravely pressing 
the enemy, he received the wound from which he died on 
the 8th of August following. 



Preliminary Instruction in Art of War ^^ 

The regiment was in the review held by the President on 
the 4th of July. While in Washington, it exchanged Spring- 
field muskets for Enfield rifles. There were daily drills 
or target practice; the only score recorded is that made on 
July 2, 1861, announced in General Orders No. 15: — "Rec- 
ord of shooting at mark this day by the Sixteenth Regiment; 
members of companies nearest the mark — A, 18; B, 14; 
C, 24; D, 23; E, 25; F, 21; G, 31; H, 17; I, 26; K, 23." 

On July nth, the regiment marched down 7th Street 
and took boat for Alexandria, arriving late in the afternoon, 
in a heavy rainstorm. It marched out Duke Street and 
encamped in a meadow south of Fort Ellsworth then in course 
of construction. It was very dark when we reached the 
camping grounds and many disagreeable incidents occurred. 
One befell Captain Stetson, who fell into the raceway which 
carried water from Hunting Creek to the Cameron Flour 
Mills; his splashing brought help, but some of those who 
went to his aid slipped down the bank into the race, and 
not until several had joined hands and formed a line were 
their efforts at rescue successful. The darkness was Egyp- 
tian, all were utter strangers, and ignorant of what might 
befall them in a single step. When Captain Stetson and 
the others had been rescued, he commented cheerfully on 
the occurrence, and said that if he must die in the service 
he preferred to die as a soldier. These words were recalled 
by members of the Sixteenth when they received the news 
of his death, and by the party of friends from his old regiment 
who searched the battle-field of Antietam and found, where 
the dead lay thickest, the body of Lieutenant-Colonel Stet- 
son, then of the Fifty-ninth New York, and paid it the 
honors of a battle-field burial. 

On July 13th, the Sixteenth, the Eighteenth, the Thirty- 
first, and the Thirty-second New York regiments were 
brought together under command of Colonel Thomas A. 



34 Bull Run to Chancel lorsville 

Davies They formed the Second Brigade of the Fifth 
Division, under command of Colonel Dixon S. Miles, Second 
United States Infantry, of the Army of Northeastern Vir- 
ginia, commanded by Brigadier- General Irvin McDowell, 
United States Army. Adjutant Rowland of the Sixteenth 
was appointed acting assistant adjutant-general on the 
staff of Colonel Davies. 

During our first week in Virginia the regiment furnished 
details for picket, and continued company and battalion 
drills. On the 12th, Captain Wood visited Mount Vernon, 
and reported the discoveries he made there to Colonel Davies, 
who sent out Companies C, D, and K of the Sixteenth on a 
reconnaissance, and reported the results of the expedition 
to Colonel Miles as follows: — 

"Headquarters Second Brigade, Fifth Division, 

"Alexandria, Va., July 14th, 1861. 

** Sir: — In pursuance of your verbal orders of yesterday, I made 
a reconnaissance as far as Mount Vernon. Captain Wood was 
informed that a large amount of provisions were to be sent for 
tonight (July 14th) by some person who was to convey them 
and the negroes on the plantation to the Southern Army. I 
immediately ordered out three companies — C, D, and K of the 
Sixteenth regiment. On arriving at the plantation I could not 
find any more than sufficient in my judgment, to carry on the 
operations of the plantation. Whatever may be my individual 
views as to the confiscation of the property of rebels who are using 
it and its income to overthrow the government, I consider that 
the case was not sufficiently plain to authorize me to take the 
mule teams, or seize upon the fish and bacon, although their 
owner is well known to be an officer high in rank in the rebel 
army and now in active command. 

"As to the negroes, there being no law or orders directing me 
to cause them to remain at home or to prevent them from vol- 
unteering to do team duty in my brigade, I shall allow them to 
remain until otherwise directed. I, however, have placed a guard 



Preliminary Instruction in Art of War 35 

over the provisions, the mules, and the wagons, on the estate, 
and shall await your orders for their disposition. 

"Thos. a. Davies, 
" Colonel Commanding Second Brigade, Fifth Division." 

"To Col. Miles, 

"Comdg. Fifth Div. Dep't of Northeastern Virginia." 

"Endorsement, July i6th, 1861. 

"Colonel Davies has been instructed to immediately withdraw 
his pickets to within a proper distance in front of his brigade, 
to respect private property, and to send back to the farm the ne- 
groes his troops brought away. 

"D, S. Miles, 
^^ Colonel Second Infantry, Comdg. Fifth Division." 

This endorsement indicated the decision of the authorities 
not to interfere with slavery or to permit the soldiers to in- 
dulge in sentimentalities respecting the freedom of the 
bondmen. It was impressed on the army that it was organ- 
ized to suppress seceders, not to disturb the institutions of 
the States. 

If Colonel Davies had known, when he pitched the tents 
of his regiment near Alexandria, that the field we occupied 
belonged to the farm on which Mrs. Woolsey had once lived, 
I have no doubt that we should have had a second " Camp 
Woolsey," instead of "Camp Vernon." I am permitted to 
copy from the ''Letters of a Family during the War for the 
Union," printed for private distribution, extracts which 
will show how appropriate the name suggested would have 
been. 

Mrs. Woolsey 's daughter writes: 

"Our regiment, the Sixteenth New York, was about two weeks 
stationed at 'Camp Woolsey,' near the Capitol, and then crossed 
the Potomac and pitched its tents on Cameron Run, a little west 



36 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

of Alexandria, in the fields which were once the property of our 
great-great aunt Ricketts, whose plantation was famous for its 
flour, ground by the mill on the run. This aunt Ricketts, a sweet- 
faced woman, whose likeness was among those taken by Saint 
Memin about 1805, brought up your dear grand-mother (left 
an orphan in 18 14), whose letter of July 19 th speaks of those 
days": — 

"8 Brevoort Place, Friday, July 19, 1861. 

... "I have just been devouring the Times — that part of it at 
least, and that only, which tells of the war movements, — every- 
thing else is passed over with a very slighting glance. We feel 
the intensest interest now in every tramp of the soldiery as they 
advance southward, and wait with great impatience from night 
till morning, and from morning till night again, for our papers. 

"How deeply interesting was your letter to us, written in the 
doorway of J.'s tent at Alexandria — not the first tent letter we 
have received from you, but how different the circumstances of 
this last from any other! and how strange to me that poor old 
Alexandria, where all of my eleven brothers and sisters were bom 
and where my father and mother and relatives lie buried, should 
be the scene of such warfare — the camping ground of my children 
under such circumstances! You must have been very near the 
graves of your grandparents and that of my dear venerated 
great-aunt, Mary Ricketts, who was a loving mother to me after 
the death of my own. Cameron, too, was one of the places and 
homes of my childhood. It was the country seat of this same 
good aunt, and on the grounds some distance from the dwelling 
house stands a dilapidated building, in its day a fine 'mansion' 
for that part of the country, which was the original home of the 
family, and where my mother was married to a then 'affluent 
merchant ' of Alexandria. 

'"Cameron Run' was the scene of all our childish sports, 
where we used to fish and sail and bathe, and have all sorts of 
good times; it was then a wide deep stream and formed the boun- 
dary line along the bottom of the garden at Cameron, and was 
lined on either side by magnolia trees; and when the old family 



Preliminary Instruction in Art of War 37 

coach, with its gray horses, was called up to the door on Sunday 
morning to take us into town for church, we each had our mag- 
nolia in hand, showing where our morning walk had been, and 
our side of the old church was known by its perfume. All this 
is as fresh in my memory as if fifty years had been but as many 
days! I perfectly remember every spot about the old place; 
but everything had changed almost entirely when I was last 
there, though I look back to it still as it was in my childhood. 
More than ever do I now regret my not having kept a diary of 
my early life, which might have been interesting to my chil- 
dren." . . . 

The daughter adds: 

"It was a pretty spot, our camp in a valley in Virginia, — the 
hillside, covered with white tents, sloping to a green meadow 
and a clear bright little river. The meadow was part of my 
great-great-aunt's farm years ago, and in the magnolia-bordered 
stream my grandfather's children had fished and paddled. Now, 
we, two generations afterwards, had come back and pitched our 
tents in the old wheat field, and made ready for war, and there 
were no magnolia blossoms any more." . . . "Our regiment had 
only been encamped a few days on Cameron Run when the ad- 
vance against the enemy at Manassas was ordered, and we two 
(G. and E.) watched the brigade break camp and march down 
the peaceful country road, carrying J. away from us. We stood 
alone, and looked after them as long as they were in sight, and 
then made our way back to Washington." 



CHAPTER IV 



"ON TO RICHMOND" 



AT 3 P.M. July 1 6, 1 86 1, the Sixteenth New York, with 
forty rounds of ammunition and three days' cooked 
rations, formed in line on the Alexandria and Fairfax Pike, 
and marched, with the regiments of the Second Brigade, 
Fifth Division, to Annandale, and encamped for the night. 
At daybreak the advance was resumed on the old Braddock 
road, marching until 8.30 a.m., when we found obstruction 
but no enemy. At 11 a.m., we met the first Confederate, 
pickets with whom we exchanged shots, but no casualties 
resulted until we came on the main force, upon which their 
outposts had fallen back, about three miles from Fairfax 
Court House, where a brisk skirmish took place between 
the enemy and our picket line; the casualties on our side 
were the mortal wounding of Sergeant John S. Allen, 
Company K, Eighteenth New York, who was the first 
Northern New Yorker to fall in the Civil War, and the slight 
wounding of a private of the same regiment. Resuming 
our march, we came to the recently abandoned camp of the 
Fifth Alabama Rifles wherein were found a well prepared 
dinner, caddies of tea, barrels of sugar, and many articles 
better suited for a picnic or a party in a summer house than 
to soldiers in the field. We envied the bountifully supplied 
Southerners then, but the time came when we were often 
glad to give a hungry "Johnnie" a taste of our bread and 
bacon. Learning that McDowell's troops occupied Fair- 



"On to Richmond" 



39 



fax Court House, half a mile away, we encamped for the night. 
On Thursday morning we marched to Ccntreville. 

While at Centreville, the regiment was encamped near the 
Garibaldi Guards, which regiment, notwithstanding the 
rigid orders against foraging, carried it on to an extent that 
brought severe criticism from headquarters. Its conduct 
in this respect was contagious, and the Sixteenth carried on 
some transactions not in keeping with the spirit and terms 
of the general order. 

One incident attracted more attention than was expected 
or desired, by the parties participating in it, Joseph Mooney 
of Company C, an experienced woodsman and bee hunter 
from the Adirondacks, was strolling outside of camp, when 
he came across a party of the Garibaldi Guards, with a bee- 
hive that they had taken from the apiary of a Virginia 
farmer. The escaping bees gave the marauders much 
trouble. Mooney saw their difficulty and, remarking that 
he understood the habits of bees, told them that he would 
show them the best way of getting their honey into camp. 
Thereupon, they invited him to instruct and assist them, 
which he proceeded to do with a not unselfish interest in 
the proceedings for, when they turned the hive over to him, 
he raised it from the base, and threw the bees in handfuls 
into the faces of the Garibaldians who hastily abandoned 
their booty. Mooney then shouldered the hive, after stopping 
the orifices with clay, and, starting for the camp of the 
Sixteenth, came into one end of his company street just as 
Colonel Davies and staff rode in at the other. When ob- 
served by the colonel, he was ordered to "drop that box" 
with a vigor that compelled prompt action. Mooney threw 
the box as far as possible from him, and ran to escape the 
pursuit of the bees, knowing that those in its vicinity would 
have something to think about besides inflicting punish- 
ment on him. The bees rose in anger and settled on the 



40 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

colonel, his staff, and their horses, stinging with such fury 
that those who were not dismounted rode hurriedly away, 
while the dismounted orderlies followed in great haste. The 
colonel reached his tent with one eye practically closed, with 
swollen lips, and in a state of general demoraUzation which 
in no way tended to induce him to condone the conduct of 
the miscreant who had brought the bees into camp. Mooney 
had not been identified by the colonel, however, and no 
one aided him in finding the man who had brought in the 
box which, for a time, sent forth as many evils as the fabled 
box of Pandora. Mooney, afterwards, in apparent igno- 
rance of the whole transaction, came forward and built a 
fire of brush, thus disposing of the bees so that the honey 
was distributed. But the bees were not all killed, and their 
presence was made known in several beds during the night; 
the shrieks that came from the occupants were accompa- 
nied by words that recall the habits of the "Army in Flan- 
ders." 

Battle of Blackburn's Ford 

While encamped at Centreville, we were in hearing of the 
battle of Blackburn's Ford which was opened by Colonel 
Israel B. Richardson's brigade about noon, July i8th. He 
met the brigade of Longstreet which was early re-enforced 
by Early's brigade. Richardson was on a reconnaissance 
to discover the location and strength of the enemy. That 
object having been attained, Richardson withdrew by 
command of General Daniel Tyler who had directed the 
movement in violation of McDowell's orders. The enemy 
retained his position but did not attempt to pursue. The 
Confederate forces engaged slightly exceeded the force of 
Richardson. The Confederate casualties were sixty-eight, 
and the Union, eighty-two. 



"On to Richmond*' 41 

The Battle of Bull Run 

General Beauregard published his plan of attack on the 
20th of July, which was approved by General Joseph E. 
Johnston at 4 a.m. on the 21st. It provided for an attack 
upon the Union forces at Centreville by way of Union Mills 
Ford, McLean's Ford, Mitchell's Ford and the Stone 
Bridge. He designated the troops to compose the several 
columns, with the batteries which should accompany each 
brigade, and the distribution of the cavalry. McDowell's 
advance put Beauregard on the defensive. 

General McDowell ordered all the troops to march, at 
2.30 A.M., on the 2ist day of July, to their several designated 
positions, but so many army trains advanced with the troops 
that the roads became blocked and delayed the movement 
for three or four hours. Tyler's division, consisting of 
Schenck's and Sherman's brigades, with Ayres' and Carhsle's 
batteries, reached the Warrenton turnpike on Bull Run at 
6 o'clock, and, at 6.30, fired the signal gun to indicate readi- 
ness for action. Keyes' brigade had been halted by General 
McDowell, two miles in rear of the Run, but was soon sent 
forward and took a prominent part in the battle; Richard- 
son's brigade, of Tyler's division, was stationed near the left 
of the line of battle and did not operate with the other brigades 
of the First Division during the day. Hunter's division, 
consisting of Andrew Porter's and Burnside's brigades, and 
Heintzelman's division, consisting of Franklin's, Willcox's 
and Howard's brigades to which Ricketts' and Arnold's 
batteries were attached, were sent to the right and, crossing 
Bull Run near Sudley Springs between 11 and 12 o'clock, 
engaged the enemy who had marched to resist the flank 
movement of McDowell's forces. The real contest of the 
day was made in the vicinity of the Henry House, the Rob- 
inson House, the Stone House, and the Stone Bridge, by 



42 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman, and the brigades 
of Keyes and Sherman of Tyler's division. The operations 
of the Union forces were successful and they steadily gained 
ground over the Confederate left until 3 o'clock, when re- 
enforcements from Johnston's army checked their advance 
by an attack on our right flank, which caused the line to 
break and retire down the hill. Soon the disorder extended 
to the whole line, with the exception of the regulars, who 
held a position which enabled the retreating mass to cross 
the Warrenton Bridge; the retreat soon became a rout, and 
the right wing returned to Centreville in a panic. The 
battle was fought principally by the troops of Tyler's, Hun- 
ter's and Heintzelman's divisions, consisting of the brigades 
of Sherman, Schenck, Andrew Porter, Burnside, Frank- 
lin, Willcox and Howard. 

Blenker's brigade of Miles' division was stationed on the 
heights east of Centreville, as a reserve; Davies held the 
extreme left of the Union line near the Grigsby House ; at 
the right of Davies' brigade was Richardson's; and Hunt's 
Battery M, Second Artillery, with a section of Edwards' 
battery of the Third Artillery was supported by these bri- 
gades. These batteries threw shells over the fords in their 
front, and against the enemy occupying the right bank of 
Bull Run, under the command of General Ewell, 

About 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Colonel Miles directed 
Davies to send four companies to feel the strength of the 
enemy, under command of an experienced officer, empha- 
sizing the words "an experienced officer." There was no one 
in Davies' command who was experienced in warfare except 
Captain Tapley of Company B, the junior captain of the 
Sixteenth who, as a non-commissioned officer of dragoons, 
had had experience in Indian fighting. Colonel Davies 
ordered Companies B and G and two companies from the 
Thirty-first New York regiment to go forward under my 



"On to Richmond" 43 

command. The detachment moved off across the field, en- 
tered the woods, and exchanged shots with the Confederate 
pickets, who were members of the Sixth Alabama regiment, 
under command of Major John B. Gordon, later Lieuten- 
ant- General, Confederate States Army, The casualty result- 
ing from this meeting was the wounding of Lieutenant Wilson 
Hopkins in the heel. 

While pressing forward to the left, in which direction the 
Confederate pickets had retired. Captain Tapley came hur- 
riedly from the right of the line, calHng out, " Captain Curtis, 
why don't you obey the order to retreat?" I repHed that 
I had received no such order. Then Captain Tapley ex- 
plained to the "experienced officer," that the bugle call was 
an order to retire. The detachment was marched back to 
the brigade and, on emerging from the woods, was met by 
a staff officer, who had ridden in great haste to urge it to 
rejoin the command at "double quick," as a large body of 
the enemy were marching down to strike our left flank. 

The skirmishing party had just regained the brigade line, 
when a force under General D. R. Jones, consisting of the 
Fifth South Carolina, the Seventeenth and the Eighteenth 
Mississippi regiments. Miller's battery, and Flood's troop 
of cavalry, attacked Davies' brigade, opening a brisk fire 
at short range. The only casualties on our side were the 
killing of Lieutenant Craig, and the wounding of two men 
of the artillery. The Confederate loss was fourteen killed 
and sixty-two wounded. The Confederates were repelled 
by our artillery. Davies ordered that the infantry should not 
fire until we could see the color of the enemy's eyes; as they 
did not come near enough for that, the infantry did not fire 
a shot. Richardson's and Davies' brigades, with the artil- 
lery, took position at Centreville, and remained until all the 
troops which had been engaged on our right had taken up 
their march to Washington. Davies' brigade marched back 



44 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

to its old camp near Alexandria, arriving in the afternoon of 
the 22nd, in time to hold dress parade. 

At the first roll call after the Sixteenth returned from 
Manassas to its camp, Private Joseph B. Rodden of Company 
K was the only member reported absent. About noon on 
the 23rd, he came to camp driving thirty head of beef cattle, 
which had been taken with Davies' brigade on the cam- 
paign. 

It is probable that in no battle of modem times, in which 
thirty-five thousand men were engaged, was there so small 
a number of officers educated in the science and art of war; 
nor was there a battle which was the nursery of so many who 
came to great prominence in the profession of arms, as those 
who rose from the mob- like forces which contended at Manas- 
sas. Those who became the most prominent were of the 
field or line, and generally the junior in years, as well as in 
rank, of those holding higher commands; the men who 
attained the greatest success were, chiefly, graduates of the 
Military Academy. Colonel William T. Sherman gained 
a place among the world's great generals; Colonel Henry W. 
Slocum, who commanded a regiment, Colonel Oliver O. 
Howard, and Colonel Ambrose E. Burnside, who commanded 
brigades, rose to the command of armies; Colonels Samuel 
P. Heintzelman, William B. Franklin, Israel B. Richardson, 
Erasmus D. Keyes, and Orlando B. Willcox rose to the com- 
mand of corps. A number of captains and Heutenants 
rose to the command of corps, divisions, and brigades. 
John A. Logan, a civilian, who had gone out to the field to 
witness the operations of the day, resigned his seat in Con- 
gress, and raised a regiment; he afterward rose to the head 
of the Union generals who came from civil life. Lieuten- 
ant William A. Elderkin, appointed a cadet from Potsdam, 
New York, who had gone from the graduating exercises at 
West Point to the battle-field of Bull Run, where he rendered 



"On to Richmond" 45 

exceptional services in rescuing the limbers and caissons of 
Ricketts' battery after the guns had been captured, was 
highly commended by his battery commander and by the 
chief of artillery of McDowell's army, and was promoted to 
a staff department. Colonel Keyes refers to one of his regi- 
mental commanders as follows: "I also observed through- 
out the day the gallantry and excellent conduct of Colonel 
Alfred H. Terry, Second Connecticut, from whom I received 
most zealous assistance." Captain Charles Griffin, who 
rose to the command of a corps, in his report of the opera- 
tions of his battery at Bull Run, refers to a subordinate as 
follows: "In addition, I deem it my duty to add that Lieuten- 
ant (Adelbert) Ames was wounded so as to be unable to ride 
his horse at almost the first fire; yet he sat by his command 
directing the fire, being helped on and off the caisson during 
the different changes of front or position, refusing to leave 
the field until he became too weak to sit up." For this 
he was given a Congressional Medal of Honor, and, later, 
promoted to be a general oflScer; in the capture of Fort 
Fisher he was second in command to General Terry. 

General Barnard E. Bee's brigade of Johnston's army 
came on the field, and checked the steady advance of Mc- 
Dowell's forces by an attack on his right flank, and started 
the retreat which degenerated into a rout. In this brigade, 
was the Sixth North Carolina regiment, commanded by 
Colonel Charles F. Fisher, who was killed in his successful 
charge to capture Ricketts' battery. General Bee was killed 
about the same time and General W. H. C. Whiting assumed 
command of the brigade. 

Later, the Confederate authorities honored the memory 
of Colonel Fisher by naming the fortification, between the 
Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, which had been 
begun by Captain BoUes, Fort Fisher. This fort, under 
the supervision of General Whiting as chief engineer, be- 



46 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

came the most important of their sea coast defenses, and was 
called impregnable until it was captured by the joint expe- 
dition on January 15, 1865. Admiral Porter commanded 
the naval, and General Terry the land, forces; my brigade 
led the assaulting column. General Whiting, who had been 
relieved of the command of the Wilmington defenses, went 
to the fort and tendered his services to Colonel William 
Lamb, its commander, and, in the hand-to-hand contest 
for possession of the fourth traverse, received a mortal 
wound. 

On the Confederate side of the battle of Bull Run, there 
were many who rose to high command and to great promi- 
nence during the progress of the war; Thomas J. Jackson, 
James Longstreet, Richard S- Ewell, and Jubal A. Early 
were then in command of brigades. Major John B. Gordon, 
Sixth Alabama rifles, rose to a lieutenant-generalcy, and was 
recognized as the foremost soldier of the South who came 
from civil life. 

General Gordon relates, in his Reminiscences, two inter- 
esting incidents which occurred on the Confederate side, 
where General Ewell's troops were stationed opposite those 
of Davies and Richardson. 

"The most serious one was, that the order from Beauregard to 
Ewell, directing an assault on the Union left, failed to reach 
that officer. This strange miscarriage prevented General Ewell 
from making a movement which, it then seemed probable and 
now appears certain, would have added materially to McDowell's 
disaster. I had already been instructed by him to make a recon- 
naissance in the direction of the anticipated assault, but I had 
been suddenly recalled just as my skirmishers were opening fire. 
I was recalled because General Ewell had not received the prom- 
ised order. For me it was perhaps a most fortunate recall, for 
in my isolated position I should have probably been surrounded 
and my little command cut to pieces. I found General Ewell 



"On to Richmond" 47 

in an agony of suspense. He would walk rapidly to and fro, 
muttering to himself, 'no orders, no orders.' 

"I can not conclude this imperfect portrayal of the peculiari- 
ties of this splendid soldier and eccentric genius without placing 
upon record one more incident connected with the first battle 
of Bull Run. While he awaited the order from Beauregard 
(which never came), I sat on my horse near him, as he was di- 
recting the location of a battery to cover the ford and fire upon 
a Union battery and its supports on the opposite hills. 

"As our guns were unlimbered, a young lady, who had been 
caught between the lines of the two armies, galloped up to where 
the General and I were sitting on our horses, and began to tell 
the story of what she had seen. She had mounted her horse 
just in front of General McDowell's troops, who it was expected 
would attempt to force a crossing at this point. This Virginian 
girl, who appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years of age, was 
in a flutter of martial excitement. She was profoundly impressed 
with the belief that she really had something of importance to 
tell. The information which she was trying to convey to General 
Ewell she was sure would be of vast importance to the Con- 
federate cause, and she was bound to tell it. General Ewell 
listened to her for a few minutes, and then called her attention 
to the Union batteries that were rushing into position and getting 
ready to open fire upon the Confederate lines. He said to her, 
in his quick, quaint manner: 'Look there, look there. Miss! 
Don't you see those men with blue clothes on, in the edge of the 
woods? Look at those men loading those big guns. They are 
going to fire, and to fire quick, and fire right here. You'll get 
killed. You'll be a dead damsel in less than a minute. Get away 
from here! Get away!' The young woman looked over at the 
blue coats and the big guns, but paid not the slightest attention 
to either. Nor did she make any reply to his urgent injunction, 
*to get away from here!' but continued the story of what she had 
seen. General Ewell, who was a crusty old bachelor at that time, 
and knew far less about women than he did about wild Indians, 
was astonished at this exhibition of feminine courage. He gazed 



48 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

at her in mute wonder for a few minutes, and then turned to me 
suddenly, and, with a sort of jerk in his words, said: 'Women — 
I tell you sir, women would make a grand brigade — if it were 
not for snakes and spiders! ' He then added much more thought- 
fully: 'They don't mind bullets — women are not afraid of bullets; 
but one big black snake would put a whole army to flight.'" 



The fire opened by Major Gordon's skirmishers, just 
as he was hurriedly recalled, was upon my detachment whose 
recall was simultaneous with that of Gordon's troops. When 
the pioneer corps of Davies' brigade was felling trees, to 
blockade the roads leading to the left of our position, a young 
woman on horseback rode up to the party and asked, "Why 
are you obstructing our road?" I answered, "To prevent 
the approach of those whom we are not ready to receive." 
She was, no doubt, the young girl who soon after became 
the heroine of General Gordon's story. Counsellor J. B. T. 
Thornton of Manassas informs me that the young lady, 
whose splendid courage was such a revelation to General 
Ew^U, was Miss Oceola Mason, daughter of Dr. J. Seddon 
Mason, a descendant of the author of the Bill of Rights of 
Virginia, George Mason of Gunston Hall. She certainly 
showed the independent spirit and courage of her distin- 
guished progenitor. 

General McDowell had at Centreville about thirty thousand 
men, of which number eighteen thousand were engaged with 
the enemy. The Confederates had at Manassas about thirty- 
two thousand men of which number eighteen thousand 
were engaged. The Confederates lost 387 killed, 1,582 
wounded, 13 missing, a total of 1,982. The Union army 
lost 481 killed, 1,011 wounded, 1,216 missing, a total of 
2,708. The Confederates had a much larger cavalry force 
than the Federals, and its operations at the close very materi- 
ally increased their list of prisoners. They also had the ad- 



"On to Richmond" 



49 



vantage of a position selected and mapped out in advance of 
the action. They were particularly fortunate in obtaining cor- 
rect information of all contemplated movements of the Union 
forces. The Confederate commanders were often in pos- 
session of orders, issued at Washington, as early as the Union 
officer to whom they were addressed, particularly at the begin- 
ning of the war. Beauregard had McDowell's plans, and 
the number of his forces, four days before the battle. The 
Confederate commanders were also supplied with trusty 
guides to direct them in all operations. This is well illus- 
trated by a paragraph in General Beauregard's report. 

"Messrs. McLean, Wilcoxen, Kinchlo, and Brawner, citizens 
of this immediate vicinity, it is their due to say, have placed me 
and the country under great obligations for the information rela- 
tive to this region, which has enabled me to avail myself of its 
defensive features and resources: they were found ever ready to 
give me their time without stint or reward." 

The Mr. McLean referred to by General Beauregard 
was the same man at whose house at Appomatox, Generals 
Grant and Lee met on the 9th of April, 1865, to agree upon 
the terms for surrendering the army of Northern Virginia. 

After the battle of Bull Run, the Confederate and the 
Union armies were reorganized and changed names. The 
Confederates consolidated the Army of the Potomac, com- 
manded by General Beauregard, with the Army of the 
Shenandoah, commanded by General Johnston, and called 
the combined forces the Army of Northern Virginia. The 
Army of Northeastern Virginia, commanded by General Mc- 
Dowell, was reorganized by General McClellan and called 
the Army of the Potomac. These designations continued 
until the close of the war. 

From a strictly military standpoint, the battle of Bull Run 
was a mistake, but its effect on the country was a blessing, 



50 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

as our Confederate friends sometimes used to say of their 
defeats in the latter part of the war. As a military move- 
ment it was without justification. The Government had 
no army with which to make an aggressive campaign. 
General McDowell had under his command a battalion 
of marines, numbering three hundred and fifty officers and 
men, eight companies of infantry, seven companies of cav- 
alry, and nine batteries of artillery, which belonged to the 
regular military forces of the United States. The remainder 
of his forces were militia and volunteers, hurriedly brought 
to the capital, badly organized, and at least nine-tenths of 
them officered by men wholly without experience in military 
affairs. All of McDowell's troops, except the few regulars, 
were brought on to the field almost directly after being mus- 
tered into the United States service, without having had 
time to be drilled or disciplined. Their prompt response 
to the call of the President was proof of their patriotism, 
but patriotism, without military training and discipline, 
cuts a sorry figure in the operations of actual war. 

General McDowell, in his testimony before the Committee 
on the Conduct of the War,* says : 

"I had no opportunity to test my machinery, to move it around 
and see whether it would work smoothly or not. In fact, such 
was the feeling that, when I had one body of eight regiments of 
troops reviewed together, the General censured me for it, as if 
I was trying to make some show. I did not think so. There 
was not a man there who had ever manoeuvred troops in large 
bodies. There was not one in the army. I did not believe 
there was one in the whole country. At least I knew there was 
no one who had ever handled thirty thousand troops. I had 
seen them handled abroad in reviews and marches, but I had 
never handled that number, and no one here had. I wanted very 

' Vol. 3, page 38. 



"On to Richmond" 51 

much a little time, all of us wanted it. We did not have a bit 
of it." 

The battle of Bull Run was fought in obedience to a public 
sentiment, which demanded the immediate suppression of 
the insurgents who had encamped near the capital, and it was 
generally believed that an armed force, however organized 
or equipped for action, would speedily disperse "the unlaw- 
ful combination." The defeat at Bull Run awakened 
the people of the North to a realizing sense of the situation, 
and to the fact that they had to make proper preparation 
for war, or yield to the demand for a dissolution of the 
Union. It was after Bull Run that the people were aroused, 
and that immediate steps were taken to organize a military 
force at the capital. The history of the Army of the Poto- 
mac shows with what result their efforts were crowned. 



CHAPTER V 

NEW SYSTEM STRICTLY ENFORCED 

AFTER returning from Bull Run, the regiments resumed 
drill and picket duty. On July 25th, Colonel Will- 
iam B. Franklin, Twelfth United States Infantry, assumed 
command of all troops in, and in advance of, Fort Ells- 
worth; on the ist of August, he issued the first order which 
restricted the free and easy movements of officers and men. 
The issuing of passes had been under the exclusive juris- 
diction of the regimental commanders; this order forbade 
more tHan two officers of a regiment and two men of a 
company to be absent from their camp at the same time; 
all passes were to expire at 5 p.m. of the day of issue. The 
effect upon the tide of officers and soldiers going to Washing- 
ton, was much like erecting barriers in a busy thorough- 
fare; the steamers, which had been carrying hundreds from 
Alexandria to Washington, left their docks with few, if any, 
blue coats, and those refused passage were required to explain 
their absence from camp without a proper pass. The offi- 
cers returning to their quarters under arrest would have 
formed a battalion, and the men who were put into the Alex- 
andria jail tested its capacity; the free-born American citizen, 
who had volunteered to save the country, began to ascertain 
that it could only be done by complying with strict military 
rules, which required every man to be present with his com- 
mand, or to account for his absence to the proper authority. 
No time need be given to explain what were the feelings of 
those who were prevented from enjoying the delights afforded 
by daily visits to Washington; the Sixteenth did not awaken 



New System Strictly Enforced 53 

to the serious inconvenience of the new order of things until 
August 3rd, when the regiment was paid for service from 
May 15th to June 30th. The means having been supphed 
by which articles necessary to promote their personal com- 
fort could be purchased, a number having "important 
private business in Washington" started to obtain the indis- 
pensable articles, but they were turned back from Colonel 
Franklin's headquarters in a steady stream, and generally 
under arrest, for having, "in an unofficer-like manner," 
sought by frivolous arguments to influence the commanding 
officer to grant their requests. The surprise of those in 
camp was raised to fever pitch when Captain Gilmore, 
whose rectitude and sobriety were proof against every allure- 
ment, came into camp and reported himself in arrest, by 
order of Colonel Franklin. His disappointment was ex- 
pressed in the words, "by cripes," — the only " cuss- words " 
which he was ever known to use. No charges were pre- 
ferred, and he resumed duty the next morning. 

It was at length regarded as a hazardous undertaking to 
attempt to go to Washington, and when it was understood 
that I intended making the trial, several officers immedi- 
ately requested me to execute commissions for them; I did 
not know that they had laid wagers as to the length of time 
which would elapse before I returned to camp under arrest. 
I presented my pass, permitting me to go to Washington 
"on important private business," to Colonel Davies; he 
signed it and expressed the hope that Colonel Franklin 
would approve it. I proceeded to Alexandria and presented 
it to Colonel Franklin's Adjutant, a first lieutenant of 
artillery whose hair was a shade brighter than his straps. 
He took the pass to the Colonel's room and, with an air of 
impressive satisfaction, returned it to me endorsed, "Dis- 
approved by order of Colonel Franklin." I said, "This 
is not what I want, will you please procure for me an inter- 



54 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

view with Colonel Franklin?" He replied, — "If you are 
very anxious to see Colonel Franklin, I will present your 
compliments and state your wishes, but if you will take a 
suggestion from me you will not attempt to see him. He is in 
no mood to discuss the subject of passes and you will prob- 
ably be ordered to your regiment." I thanked him for his 
interest in my welfare and asked him to obtain an interview, 
which he did. On entering, I found a man about forty years 
old, intently examining a map. He looked up and when 
his eyes finally reached mine, I said "I desire to explain to 
you the necessity of my going to Washington." He replied, 
"You state that you have important private business; no 
soldier should have private business to take him away from 
his official duties, but if you will be brief, you may state why 
you wish to go to Washington." I told him that I had about 
three thousand dollars in coin, which the members of my 
company desired to send home, and that I had given each 
a check for the amount on the Judson Bank, of Ogdensburg; 
I now wished to deposit with the United States Treasurer 
the money given me, and get a draft to send to the bank, 
to pay the checks as presented. 

"An officer should have no financial dealings with the 
men of his company," he said. I replied, — "I have no other 
transaction beyond that of getting them to send all the 
money possible to their friends; the less they have in camp, 
the better off they will be. I have also commissions to 
execute for the officers of the regiment who are not able to 
go to Washington." 

"That is a good reason, return to your regiment and get all 
the commissions that the officers desire to have executed; 
I will pass you or any other officer to Washington to attend 
to them." I told him I had as many commissions as I could 
execute in one day, and that I did not wish to remain in 
Washington over night ; my own business, moreover, could not 



New System Strictly Enforced 55 

be transacted by any other person. "What can that be?" 
he asked; I repUed, — "I have on my best uniform, which 
as you see, is not suitable for an inspection, and I know of 
no other person who can represent me at the tailor's in being 
measured for a suit of clothes." He approved my pass, and 
in giving it to me said, — "WTienever you need new clothes, 
I will give you a pass to the tailor." 

General Franklin,^ for he was soon promoted, always 
recognized me, and to his friendly interest I was indebted 
for my favorable introduction to General Slocum, the com- 
mander of the brigade. From that time to the day of 
General Slocum's death I had no warmer friend. I was 
indebted to General Slocum for my promotion, for he, unso- 
licited, asked Governor Morgan to give me command of one 
of the first regiments to be raised under the call of 1862, and 
wrote to his friend William A. Wheeler, requesting him to urge 
my appointment as colonel. To these two men I have 
felt that I was indebted, so far as outside influence could 
go in such matters, for my first advancement in the army. 

All of the men residing in the vicinity of Alexandria, who 



' There came a time when certain influential politicians in Kansas 
urged General Franklin, as President of the Board of Managers of the Na- 
tional Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, to make appointments in 
the Western Branch to further their purposes; this he declined to do, be- 
cause it would violate the rule of the board to keep the Home absolutely 
free from all political or local influences. Their next step was an attempt 
made in the Fifty-fourth Congress, to prevent his re-election to the board. 
Failing to prevent his nomination by the Committee on Military Affairs, 
they carried the contest to the floor of the House of Representatives, where 
a motion was made to substitute the name of another distinguished soldier, 
and a lengthy discussion was had. I was a member of the Committee on 
Military Affairs and, in closing the discussion, was able from a long ac- 
quaintance to speak of General Franklin's distinguished services in military 
and civil life. He was selected by an overwhelming vote, and, some time 
after leaving Congress, I went on duty under him, as an Assistant Inspector- 
General of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. 



56 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

were of suitable age to perform military duty, had gone into 
the Confederate army, leaving the women of the several 
households to manage affairs as best they could. They 
came in great numbers daily to ask for guards, to make 
complaints, to sell something, to make inquiries as to the 
probable duration of the war, and to ask advice as to the 
best course for them to pursue. The headquarters of regi- 
ments encamped on the outer line of our forces had, for the 
good part of each day, the appearance of an intelligence 
office and a police station combined. Colonel Davies had 
his share of these annoyances and said one day when, as 
officer of the day, I reported for instructions, — "Captain 
Curtis, if you allow any woman under heaven to approach 
my quarters, I will have you shot to-morrow morning; no, 
you shall be shot at sunset to-night." "What shall I do if 
Mrs. Davies should wish to see you?" "That is an impos- 
sibility. She is in New York City, and if any woman, 
representing herself as Mrs. Davies, is admitted to this 
camp you will never see another morning." The colonel 
had a way of affixing impossible penalties to trivial viola- 
tions, intending, as in this case, to magnify the seriousness 
of the offense. It is probable that they had the reverse 
effect and diminished the fear which would otherwise have 
attended a neglect or violation. He was particularly out 
of sorts that day and kept close in quarters, which were as 
silent and blue as a Puritan's Christmas. About 4 o'clock 
P.M., the sentinel at the gate called, "Corporal of the guard. 
Post two." I heard the call, and saw, before the corporal 
reached the gate, that the sentinel had stopped a carriage 
with a single occupant, one whose admission to the camp 
I was ordered to prevent if it took every ball cartridge in the 
regiment. There I found Mrs. Davies, in Lieutenant- 
General Scott's carriage, vdth a pass signed by the General- 
in-Chief. 



New System 'Strictly Enforced 57 

Taking the pass, I said that I would take the responsibil- 
ity of escorting her to the colonel's quarters. Assisting Mrs. 
Davies from her carriage and opening the colonel's door, 
I said, " Colonel Davies, I present the proof of the violation 
of your order, and am prepared for execution." I passed 
her in, closed the door, and waited on the porch for the col- 
onel's orders. He soon came out, and said, — "Your diso- 
bedience of orders and wilful insubordination can only be 
excused by your accepting Mrs. Davies' invitation to dine 
with us this evening." This incident was not forgotten, and 
was always recalled when I visited them in their New York 
home or at Black Lake, where he and Mrs. Davies spent 
many summers, and where, after four score and ten years, 
he was laid at rest, in the mausoleum erected on the banks 
of the lake about which, in youth and later life, he had spent 
many days with rod and gun. When advised by his physi- 
cian that death was near he welcomed the announcement 
with trusting confidence, and in words recalling his early 
military training and the habits of his active business life, 
said: "The books are posted. I am ready for inspection 
and the grand review." 

" Of no distemper, of no blast he died, 
But fell like Autumn fruit that mellow'd long, 
Even wonder'd at, because he dropped not sooner. 
Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years. 
Yet freshly ran he on ten Winters more; 
Till like a clock worn out with beating time 
The wheels of weary life at last stood still." 

The nth day of August, 1861, was the black-letter day 
in the history of the Sixteenth. Lieutenant- Colonel Marsh, 
the regimental conmaander, called on Colonel Davies and 
stated that he was very much perplexed as to what action 
he should take on information he had received that the men 



58 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

would refuse to do duty after the 15th. They had come 
to believe that they were entitled to be discharged at the expi- 
ration of three months from the day on which they were 
mustered in. Colonel Da vies said, — "If you do not know 
what to do, form the regiment on the color line, and I will 
assume command for a short time." Lieutenant-Colonel 
Marsh at once ordered the regiment, including the old 
guard and two reliefs of the new, to parade at 9.30 a.m. 
Colonel Davies assumed command, and Adjutant Rowland 
read the following order: — 

" Headquarters, Sdcteenth New York, Aug. 11, 1861. 

"It is with sorrow that the colonel of this regiment has been 
informed that the troops have received the impression that their 
time of enlistment expires on the 15th instant, and that they are 
denominated 'three months' troops' instead of 'two years' men.' 
This impression is the result of the efforts of studious enemies of 
our cause, to breed dissatisfaction and to produce confusion. 

"There is no foundation for this report, nor has it entered the 
mind of any officer that such could by any possibility be the case. 
You, fellow soldiers, and myself and other officers, raised our 
right hands in the presence of Almighty God and swore to serve 
the country, to faithfully obey the orders of the President of the 
United States, for the term of two years from the 15th day of May, 
1 86 1, unless sooner discharged. You have crowned yourselves 
with honor and glory in the battles through which we have passed. 
Do not, then, disgrace yourselves and your officers by any such 
subterfuge." 

After Adjutant Rowland had read the orders, the colonel 
walked down the line and asked each man if he would obey 
the orders of his superior officers for the term of two years 
from the 15th of May, 1861. Affirmative responses were 
promptly made by all but two, who said they desired to 
know whether they were legally bound to serve for two 
years; and, if so, they were ready faithfully to perform 



New System Strictly Enforced 59 

every duty until the expiration of that time. The parade 
was dismissed, and harmony and good order were resumed, 
never again to be disturbed. 

The absurd behef that the regiment could not legally be 
held for more than three months, was entertained by three- 
fourths of the men, the exceptions being Company B and 
a few in other companies who accepted the views of their 
captains. An explanation is due. It was ascertained that 
the Twelfth, the Thirteenth, the Twenty-first and the 
Twenty-sixth New York regiments had been mustered in by 
Captain W. L. Elliott, for a term of three months, although 
enlisted for the term of two years, and that on the 2nd of 
August these regiments were ordered to be mustered for the 
remaining portion of their two years' enlistment. Certain 
members of Company A had submitted the question to 
Henry G. Foote, a prominent lawyer of Ogdensburg, New 
York, who had advised the men that they were a part of 
the militia of the State, as specifically stated in the Act of 
April 16, 1 861, and, therefore, could not be retained in 
service longer than ninety days. 

Although chronologically out of its order, an incident 
which occurred within a fortnight of the close of the regi- 
ment's term of service, is worthy of mention here. 

When on the 28th day of April, 1863, the Sixteenth left 
its camp to take part in the military operations which cul- 
minated, on May 3rd, in the battle of Salem Heights, Vir- 
ginia, there was no hesitancy, in that action their valor was 
proved by their losses, for when paraded to receive the thanks 
of their commanders, less than one-half of those who had 
answered the roll call on that April morning were in the ranks 
to hear the commendations bestowed. The absentees were 
accounted for, — "killed or wounded in front of Salem 
Church." 



CHAPTER VI 

THE BUILDING OF FORTS ELLSWORTH AND LYON 

ON August 12, 1861, General McDowell ordered a re- 
distribution of the troops of the Army of North- 
eastern Virginia, directing that " Heintzelman's brigade, the 
Seventh, should consist of the Sixteenth, the Twenty- sixth 
and the Twenty-seventh New York and the Fifth Maine, 
and, in the absence of the brigade commander, the senior 
colonel to act in that capacity." Under this order Colonel 
Davies assumed command of the brigade; General Heintz- 
elman never took command ; Adjutant Rowland of the 
Sixteenth continued to act as Acting Assistant Adjutant- 
General. 

One of the most disagreeable of our experiences at Camp 
Vernon was the execution of a soldier at Fort Ellsworth, 
under the supervision of our brigade commander, which 
all the troops in that vicinity were paraded to witness. I 
had been on a long tour of duty, and returned to the camp 
on the morning of the day this was to take place. The first 
knowledge I had of the execution was given me by an officer, 
who came to my tent to congratulate me on returning in 
time to witness an event which, he said, would be of great 
service in promoting the morale and discipline of the regi- 
ments attending it; he expressed his regret that he was 
ordered to go on picket and would be unable to see the exe- 
cution. I proposed to take his detail for picket, if he would 
arrange it at headquarters, and so enable him to witness 
a sight which would be very painful to me. He expressed 



Forts Ellsworth and Lyon 6i 

his delight at the proposition, regretting that I should lose 
so rare an opportunity. I went on picket, and, on my 
return to camp, heard the comments of many who saw the 
execution. From that time I began a careful study of the 
results of capital punishment, and soon came to believe that 
it was not only not beneficial, but a positive injury, in the 
administration of both military and civil law. I say this 
from a consideration of the subject as a practical question 
affecting the good order of society, without reference to 
it as an ethical one. 

At this time the regiment furnished, once in four days, 
one hundred and fifty men for picket duty, fifty daily to 
work on Fort Ellsworth, and twenty-five daily to cut trees 
and clear the ground for Fort Lyon. On August 22nd, 
General McClellan reviewed the brigade and was treated to 
a sham-battle. Colonel Davies was confident that manoeuv- 
res of this character were useful in fitting the men for actual 
war, but his superiors entertained a different opinion, dis- 
approving of the substitution of any other movements for 
those prescribed in the tactics. 

One of the most interesting characters in that part of 
Virginia was George Mason; he was a typical representative 
of an old and distinguished family which, from the early 
colonial days, had furnished in every generation one or more 
occupants of important official positions in the State or the 
Federal governments. His residence at Spring Bank, a 
mile south of Hunting Creek, was a spacious brick house, 
with all the appointments belonging to the days of early opu- 
lence, and was noted for that splendid hospitahty which 
carried good cheer and the highest social recognition. He 
was of the old school, a man of culture and extensive read- 
ing, and of frigid dignity; he had been for many years the 
Chief Justice of the Court of Fairfax County, and the solem- 
nity of his bearing comported with the dignity of judicial 



62 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

procedure in open court. I was in charge of a picket post 
near his house, when one of his servants brought me a letter 
addressed to the officer in command, written in a large 
round hand, and sealed with the family arms. It was a 
request that I should call at his house, that he might acquaint 
me with certain trespasses committed by soldiers who had 
entered his yard and garden. I was shown into his library, 
and he proceeded to tell me of the annoyance given him by 
men in uniform walking about his premises, and requested 
me to ask the responsible officer to prevent the recurrence 
of such depredations; he had suffered no loss, simply did 
not wish to see a blue coat on his place. Desiring to get 
a clue to his character, I asked if I might look at his library, 
for, if one lacks opportunity of personal contact, there is no 
better guide to the understanding of a man than the books 
he reads, and I found here the best private library which 
I saw in Virginia. While encamped in his neighborhood, 
I received several letters from him, and often called, and 
heard him express his surprise that northern Democrats 
should advise, or take part in, the war. He was especially 
grieved that Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, whom he 
had known well when Dickinson was in the United States 
Senate, should be one of the number. His heart was nearly 
broken when the axemen of the pioneer corps began to fell 
his magnificent oaks, which obstructed the range of the guns 
of Fort Lyon. He had sold to a New Jersey Quaker, before 
the war, a farm, which was part of "HoUin Hall" the great 
Mason estate north of Mount Vernon; and when the thrifty 
Quaker asked Mr. Mason, if he would receive payment on 
mortgages in advance of their falling due, he said, — "Cer- 
tainly, I will invest the money in Virginia bonds, they will 
be good always." "But," said his Quaker friend, "if there 
should be war, they may not be good." He replied, — 
"Never fear, when Virginia bonds are sold at a discount, aU 



Forts Ellsworth and Lyon 63 

securities will be depreciated, and Federal securities will 
be the lowest of any." 

Although encamped, in the winter of 1862-3, ^^^^ enough 
to see his place in going to Alexandria, I did not have the 
heart to call upon him, for I saw his house standing in a great 
waste. He was reduced to the greatest destitution in his 
later years, and lived to taste the bitterness of defeat which 
he bore as became a Mason, without asking for sympathy 
or yielding aught of his belief in the sovereignty of Virginia. 
His high social position and judicial character gave his 
opinions great weight, not only in that section but in all 
parts of Virgina; his endorsement of an individual carried 
safety and respectful consideration, and his condemnation 
brought discomfort and tribulation. In the exciting period 
following the "John Brown Raid," he had taken a strong 
interest in the welfare of his Quaker friend Mr. E. C. Gibbs, 
who never failed to show to Mr. Mason, in his disastrous 
days, that benevolence which carried nourishment to the 
destitute and sound counsel to the discordant. The ex- 
cited state of public feeling in Virginia at that time is well 
illustrated by the following letter from Mr. Mason: 

"Mr. E. C. Gibbs, 

HoLLiN Hall, Virginl\. 
Dear Sir, — I have been very desirous of seeing you for some 
time past, to have a frank and free conversation about passing 
events. But rarely going from home, I have not met with you. 
The late arrests of some Northern men of long residence in this 
county, charged with offences which, if proven, will consign them 
to the penitentiary, their families to disgrace and perhaps ruin, 
and the consequent mistrust and suspicion that is excited through- 
out the community against all Northern people, have induced me 
to ask an interview with you, whom I believe to be true and loyal 
to the State of your adoption. I want to be able to speak ad- 
visedly, when these subjects are mentioned, and not see the 



64 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

good and worthy classed indiscriminately with Traitors and 
Incendiaries. 

''Be assured, the kindest feelings alone have prompted me to 
address you this note, and nothing but a confident belief in the 
integrity of your character and correctness of your feelings and 
sentiment could have induced me to do so. 

"As next Monday is a holiday, and we shall both be at leisure, 
I will be very glad to see you here on that day to converse on these 
things. 

"G. Mason. 
"Spring Bank, ViRCtNiA, Saturday, Dec. 24, 1859." 

"N. B. This note, as you will perceive, was written on Christ- 
mas Eve, and would have been then sent down, but my servants 
applied to go to town and I do not like to refuse them, since we 
have been in the holidays. I send it now, and shall be glad to 
see you whenever convenient. 

"G. M." 

I do not recall the names of any other members of the 
old and influential families who remained in their homes 
near Alexandria; all had left before, or immediately after, 
the arrival of Union troops. There were several large es- 
tates, with mansions which denoted that they had been 
erected in a period of prosperity much greater than that pre- 
vailing at the beginning of the war; these were left in the 
keeping of servants, or agents, who were unable to protect 
them and, by the second year, nothing of value was left in 
or about them. 

We found the members of the Quaker Meeting, who had 
settled in Virginia in the forties and fifties, an industrious, 
Union-loving people who abhorred war, but were ever ready 
to care for our sick, supply us with fruits and vegetables 
and do all that was possible to promote our well-being. I 
have cause to remember all of them for kindness shown to 



Forts Ellsworth and Lyon 65 

me and to the members of my company, and, especially, 
Edward Curtis Gibbs, at whose home my wife passed three 
months, while I was with my regiment on the Peninsula. 

My first scouting beyond our lines, in the region of Acco- 
tink, was under the guidance of a lad, Lewis Gillingham, 
who is now an elder in the " Quaker Meeting." He did not 
volunteer, we met by accident, he led the way and obeyed 
instructions. 

PoHiCK Church 

A notable relic of Colonial days is Pohick Church, which 
stands near the Richmond Road, twelve miles southwest 
from Alexandria, on a hill, overlooking Pohick Creek. It 
was built by the people of a parish which included the most 
important families residing between the Rappahannock 
and the Potomac rivers. Among the traditions of that sec- 
tion is one that fixes the date, and gives the cause, of the 
differences which existed between George Mason and George 
Washington. The Masons were, not only in their own 
estimation, but by the general consent of their neighbors, 
among the first of the distinguished families of Virginia, 
and it was generally conceded that an opinion expressed 
by George Mason, of Gunston Hall, was worthy of accept- 
ance without discussion. When the old frame church was 
no longer fit for use, the parishioners were called together 
to decide on a site for a new church. Mr. George Mason 
recommended the old site, near Gunston Hall; this propo- 
sition was antagonized by Colonel Washington, who advised 
that one be selected farther from the Potomac and nearer 
the centre of the (Truro) parish. The brilliancy of Colonel 
Washington's service in the late campaigns was a factor not 
so potent as the oratory and social influence of Mr. Mason; 
and Colonel Washington saw, during the delivery of Mason's 
address, that he had no chance of winning in a debate with 



66 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

him. When Mr. Mason sat down, Colonel Washmgton 
said he assumed that all would agree that the interests of 
the parish as a whole should determine the question of loca- 
tion, and offered to survey the parish, and bring to an ad- 
journed meeting a map showing its geographical centre. To 
this fair proposition, Mr. George Mason saw the necessity 
of yielding; when the meeting was held. Colonel Washington 
produced a map, showing that the site he had at first pro- 
posed was the centre of the parish. 

This site was selected, and on the north bank of Pohick 
Creek, two miles west of the old church, the brick church 
was erected, in 1773. It is said that George Mason went 
away from the meeting ruminating on the old saying, — 
"Mathematics is an exact science, but nothing will lie like 
figures, when manipulated by an expert." He prudently 
accepted the inevitable, for he knew that the suggestion of 
an error in the map would require him to defend his assump- 
tion on a field where his successful rival would have as 
great an advantage as he had derived from the use of the 
surveyor's chain. 

At no time in their after life did these gentlemen co-oper- 
ate in matters touching their personal interests; their plan- 
tations adjoined, but as late as 1861, when we picketed the 
country embracing the plantations of George Washington 
and of George Mason, it was easy to see the fences built 
by each, running parallel along the entire boundary line of 
their lands. Great changes had taken place during the 
eighty-eight years from the erection of Pohick Church to the 
arrival of the Union army to preserve the republic which 
Washington was foremost in establishing. The great estates 
had been subdivided, the opulence enjoyed by the early pro- 
prietors had departed, and much of the territory had come 
into the possession of men who sprang from a different 
ancestry. 



Forts Ellsworth and Lyon 67 

A large part of the Mount Vernon estate had been pur- 
chased by Quakers from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New 
York, who brought with them a thrift and an improved sys- 
tem of farming not previously practised in this part of Vir- 
ginia. With plantations embracing thousands of acres, it was 
a common practice, in the earher days, to clear a field and 
cultivate it for a term of years. When the native fertility 
was so exhausted that remunerative crops could not be 
grown, these fields were turned out to grow up with a second 
crop of timber, mostly pine and cedar, and new clearings 
were made by removing the original growth of deciduous 
trees, chiefly oak and chestnut. The system of restoring 
fertility by applying home-made or purchased fertilizers to 
the lands under cultivation, now introduced by the farmers 
from the North, brings them generous rewards for their 
industry, as is shown in a prosperity which gives evidence 
of domestic comfort and increasing wealth. 

In 1 86 1, the controversy growing out of the selection of 
the new site for the church had been forgotten by all except 
those who cherished the traditions of their ancestors, and, 
with the passage of the leading families, there also passed 
an interest in the church itself. The parish was poor, and 
the few communicants had a hard struggle to live in this 
world, a struggle so hard that they had little to spare for re- 
pairing this venerable edifice ; hence it was, on our first visit, 
in worse condition than when visited by Bishop Meade, in 
1837. From his account, "O/^ Churches and Families of 
Virginia,^" I extract the following: — 

"My next visit was to Pohick Church, in the vicinity of Mount 
Vernon, the seat of General Washington. I designed to perform 
service there on Saturday, as well as Sunday; but, through some 

' Vol. ii., p. 227. 



68 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

mistake, no notice was given for the former day. The weather, 
indeed, was such as to prevent the assemblage of any but those 
who prize such occasions so much as to be deterred only by very 
strong considerations. It was still raining when I approached 
the house and found no one there. The wide-open doors invited 
me to enter, as they do invite, day and night, through the year, 
not only the passing traveler but every beast of the field and foul 
of the air. These latter, however, seemed to have reverenced 
the House of God, since few marks of their pollution are to be 
seen throughout. The interior of the house, having been well 
built, is still good. The chancel, communion table, tables of 
the law, etc., are still there, and in good order. The roof only is 
decaying, and, at the time I was there, the rain was dropping on 
these sacred places, and on other parts of the house. On the 
doors of the pews, in gilt letters, are still to be seen the names 
of the principal families which once occupied them. How could 
I, while for at least an hour traversing these long aisles, entering 
the sacred chancel, ascending the lofty pulpit, forbear to ask: — 
and is this the House of God which was built by the Washingtons, 
the Masons, the McCartys, the Grahams, the Lewises, the Fair- 
faxes ? — the house in which they used to worship the God of our 
fathers, according to the venerable forms of the Episcopal Church, 
and some of whose names are yet to be found on these deserted 
pews? Is this also destined to moulder piece-meal away, or 
when some signal is given, to become the prey of spoilers, to be 
carried hither and thither and applied to every purpose under 
Heaven ? 

"Surely patriotism, or reverence for the greatest of patriots, if 
not religion, might be efifectually appealed to in behalf of this 
one temple of God. The particular location of it is ascribed to 
Washington, who, being an active member of the vestry when it 
was under consideration and in dispute where it should be placed, 
carefully surveyed the whole parish, and, drawing an accurate 
and handsome map of it with his own hand, showed clearly 
where the claims of justice and the interest of religion required 
its erection." 



Forts Ellsworth and Lyon 69 

The pious wish of the good Bishop has bome fruit; yet 
the condition of the church, when I last saw it in 1896, 
showed the need of its being generously remembered by 
those who venerate the memory of Washington, and "wor- 
ship the God of our fathers according to the venerable forms 
of the Episcopal Church." 

On August 31, 1861, three and one-half months from 
muster in, the regiment had gained one officer by appoint- 
ment, and fifty-two recruits; in the same time it had lost by 
death, discharge, and desertion, sixty-five. It was evident 
that no military operations would take place for some time, 
and the following named officers were detailed on recruiting 
service between that date and the 22nd of November: — 
Major Buel Palmer, Captains Nevin, Palmer, Parker, Stetson, 
Gilmore, Curtis, Seaver and Wood; Lieutenants Van Ness, 
Hopkins, Barney, Jones, Moore and Webster; Assistant- 
Surgeon Mooers, Sergeants Merry of Company A, and Bur- 
dick of Company C. These officers were gone from twenty 
to sixty days, enlisting and bringing to the regiment two hund- 
red and forty-six recruits, of which number eighteen were 
enlisted as musicians. These musicians were organized as 
a regimental band, and were so reported on the morning 
report of October 23, 1861; they brought their instruments, 
and did much to relieve the weariness and monotony of our 
five months at Camp Franklin. 

Probably no hospital, in or near Alexandria, cared for 
more of the Sixteenth than the hospital on Fairfax Street, 
under charge of Dr. James Robertson. Benjamin Hallo- 
well, of the Society of Friends, taught school in that house 
for many years; he made a specialty of preparing young 
men for college, and for the Military Academy at West 
Point and the Naval Academy at Annapolis. No one of them 
rose to greater prominence than Robert E. Lee, who was 
there prepared to enter West Point. 



70 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Under the regulations in force in the fall and winter of 
1 861-2, no man could be taken from his quarters, or from 
the regimental hospital, to one of the general hospitals, 
without a permit from the brigade surgeon. It so happened 
that I returned from a detail of a week's duration and found 
four men of my company sick with typhoid fever, and, it 
was thought, past recovery; my request, that they should be 
sent to the Fairfax Street hospital, was declined, on the ground 
that they were past relief. I called on Dr. Robertson, who 
was under orders to receive no one unless sent by a superior 
medical officer, and asked him if he had beds unoccupied; 
he took me into two rooms, in which there were eight or ten 
vacant beds. "Doctor," I said, "is there no means by 
which I can get my sick men into these beds?" "I can not 
tell you, but I will take you down the back stairs and out to 
the street : there is no guard at the back door. If I find any 
sick men in those beds, I will not put them out, I assure 
you." Finding an ambulance driven by one of my com- 
pany, I took two of the sick men to the back door of Dr. 
Robertson's hospital, and carried them, in my arms, up three 
flights of stairs. When I returned with the others, I found 
that the first two had been washed and put into hospital 
dress. The doctor gave me little encouragement, as all four 
were mentally disturbed; they, nevertheless, recovered 
and were discharged from the service. One, Samuel Wardell, 
regained his health at home, reenlisted, lost a leg in Fort 
Stedman, March, 1865, and died in 1897; another, James 
Chaffee, died in 1898; Dennis Turner lives in Nebraska; 
and Daniel Austin in CaUfomia. Many who died in camp 
might have lived, had they been treated as skilfully as Dr. 
Robertson treated these men. He will be referred to again 
in this volume. 

Major John Newton, United States Engineers, later Major- 
General United States Volunteers, laid out Fort Lyon, and, 



Forts Ellsworth and Lyon 71 

on the 6th of September, our brigade began its construc- 
tion; he lifted the first spade of soil, gave the spade to me 
to take the second, and the detail of which I had charge was 
put to work. Some time later, when I was on detail again, 
I learned that several men had become intoxicated by drink- 
ing the rations of others, in addition to the one-half gill of 
whiskey allowed to each man, when called off for dinner; 
so I ordered the commissary sergeant to allow no one more 
than one ration of whiskey, and to issue it only to members 
of the detail. Near the close of the issue, a man in civihan 
dress, with the exception of a pair of soldier's trousers, came 
to me and said that the commissary sergeant had refused 
him his whiskey ration. I said that I had instructed the 
Sergeant to serve no one who was not a member of the detail. 
He replied, — "I am an officer, and a member of all details 
from my regiment. I am not obliged to supervise the men 
in digging or in drilling, but to guide them in spiritual affairs 
and watch over them to see that they are not subjected to 
immoral influences; — I am Chaplain of the Twenty-sixth 
New York." He was identified by members of the regi- 
ment as their chaplain, and was served with his much 
coveted ration of whiskey, from which he drew the in- 
spiration for his Sunday labors, and for the articles which 
he published under the name of Q. K. Philander Doe- 
sticks, P. B. He said the college which had conferred his 
degree, registered him in full, as Queer Kritter Philander 
Doesticks, Perfect Brick. Congress later required that all 
chaplains should be regularly ordained ministers of some 
religious denomination. 

General Henry W. Slocum assumed command of our bri- 
gade on September 9th, and recommended Adjutant How- 
land's promotion to the rank of Captain and Assistant 
Adjutant-General, United States Volunteers, to be assigned to 
his brigade staff; and First Lieutenant Frederick F. Wead, 



72 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Sixteenth New York, was detailed as aide-de-camp. The 
vacancy created by Adjutant Howland's promotion was 
filled by advancing Second Lieutenant Robert P. Wilson. 
The regiment now left Camp Vernon, and made, near 
Fort Lyon, the best camp of its entire term of service. We 
did our tours of picket duty and gave some attention to drill- 
ing; but our chief employment was the building of Fort 
Lyon, on which details from the brigade worked eight hours 
daily, including Sundays, for a portion of the time. 

On October 3rd, Colonel Christian, Twenty-sixth New 
York, went out in command of a detachment from the bri- 
gade, under instructions to capture the enemy's pickets 
stationed at Pohick Church. No pickets were captured 
but some private property was brought into camp, much to 
the annoyance of General Slocum who issued a very severe 
order against pillaging, condemning in strong words the un- 
soldierly conduct of those who had obtained property with- 
out paying for it. Eighteen officers of the Sixteenth, who 
had not been participators in the disorderly conduct referred 
to by General Slocum's order, felt that its terms were a 
reflection on them as well as on those whose conduct caused 
it to be issued, as it was a general order addressed to all; 
and in a state of great indignation they united in a letter to 
General Slocum, demanding the revocation of the order. 
Their communication was acknowledged by an order plac- 
ing them all in close arrest in their tents. Not having placed 
the same construction on General Orders, No. 26, I was able 
to carry verbal and written communications to General 
Slocum, the tenor of which soon healed the difficulty, after 
due apologies, and all were in a short time restored to duty. 

Slocum's brigade was moved, on October 14th, to a new 
camp near Fairfax Seminary, where it remained until the 
beginning of the campaign of 1862. In close proximity 
to us were General PhiHp Kearny's brigade of the First, 



Forts Ellsworth and Lyon 73 

the Second, the Third and Fourth New Jersey Volunteers; 
General John Newton's brigade of the Eighteenth, the 
Thirty-First and Thirty- Second New York; and the Ninety- 
fifth Pennsylvania. These brigades, with Colonel McRey- 
nold's First New York Cavalry: Piatt's Battery D, Second 
United States Artillery; Porter's Battery A, Massachusetts 
Artillery; Hexamer's Battery A, New Jersey Artillery; and 
Wilson's Battery F, First New York Artillery, composed 
General Wilham B. Frankhn's division. 



CHAPTER VII 



WINTER QUARTERS 



DURING our eleven days in Washington, much of the 
time had been taken up in review, parades, and the 
exchanging of arms, and the five days near Alexandria were 
spent in building camp, picketing, and the expedition to 
Mount Vernon; so that little attention had been given to 
drilling before we advanced to Bull Run, and, on return- 
ing from Manassas, we had at once gone to work building 
Forts Ellsworth and Lyon. Not until the regiment moved 
to Camp Franklin did it have an opportunity to learn and 
practise the duties pertaining to a soldier's life; there, in 
the middle of October, five months from its muster into the 
United States Service, it began, in a systematic manner, 
the work of perfecting itself in drill and in the technic of its 
profession. 

There are two great and important lessons to be acquired 
in military life, first, — the proper care of oneself, for effi- 
ciency depends upon good health; and, second, — the ac- 
quirement of proficiency in technical duties, so that in the 
operations of a regiment each of its units will move as by a 
single impulse, concentrating and emphasizing the numerical 
strength of the entire body. In observing the first, we pro- 
ceeded to make our quarters, which were occupied during 
the fall and winter, as comfortable as possible with the 
material at hand. The company tents were raised on logs 
or frame work, two or three feet from the ground, banked or 
plastered with clay, a floor was laid and a fire-place built 



Winter Quarters ^5 

in each, so that we were made comfortable to a degree little 
suspected by our friends at home. 

The tours of picket duty for a regiment came a little oftener 
than once a month, and lasted four days. The detail carried 
one day's cooked rations in haversacks, and one ration was 
sent out each day thereafter from camp. Evening schools 
were established, two a week, under the supervision of the 
colonel, for the instruction of commissioned officers in bat- 
tahon and brigade drill, in the making of returns and in the 
Army Regulations; and the same number weekly, under 
the supervision of a company officer, for the instruction of 
non-commissioned officers in company and battalion drill 
and guard duty. Hardee's Tactics and the Army Regula- 
tions were the text books. The regiment drilled twice daily, 
except Sundays, either in company, battalion, or brigade 
manoeuvres. 

The colonel was greatly annoyed when the manoeuvres 
were not properly executed. He accepted, for a time, the 
usual explanation, — that his commands were not distinctly 
heard, and, to prevent further trouble in that line, gave orders 
that his commands should be repeated by commanders of 
divisions, when moving in column. The colonel was not, 
in the usual acceptation of that term, a profane man, yet, 
on some occasions, he did use words indicative of a troubled 
spirit and deep dissatisfaction which were not easily ex- 
pressed in Sunday school text. One day, on battalion drill, 
he discovered some irregularity in the division commanded 
by Captain Stetson, and called out vigorously, "why in 
h — Captain Stetson, does not your division dress up?" 
Captain Stetson repeated to his division the colonel's exact 
words, and turned in time to report to the colonel, as he 
rode down the column, — "Sir, I have repeated your com- 
mand." The colonel looked at him for a moment, and 
then rode away without speaking. At the evening session 



^6 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

of the school, Colonel Da vies said, "It is not intended that 
any, except strictly military commands, shall be repeated on 
drill." Captain Stetson spoke up and said, " I have supposed 
that you wished your commands repeated as you pronounced 
them; if that is not to be the rule, I may not be able to 
distinguish the emphasizing phrases from the purely 
military ones, especially when we are executing diflScult 
manoeuvres." 

We were not associated with drilled and disciplined sol- 
diers. The twelve regiments of infantry in Franklin's divi- 
sion were, like our own, from civil life, and in Slocum's 
brigade there were but two officers educated in the science 
and art of war, and only five or six in the entire division. 
These ofl&cers labored faithfully to instruct their subordi- 
nates, and it would be difficult to overestimate the value of 
the labors of Generals Franklin, Slocum, Newton, Kearny, 
and Davies; what they did, in fitting the regiments under 
their command for active service, is best shown in the char- 
acter of their performance in the field. This division be- 
came the nucleus of the Sixth Corps, and the simple mention 
of "the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac" is enough 
to recall the high encomiums paid to it by all who saw it in 
action or who have read its history. 

Every man is not endowed by nature with the qualities 
essential to the making of a good soldier, and it is not in 
the province of barbers, tailors, drill sergeants or schools to 
make him one, unless the elements are born in him. Most 
men can be taught to act fairly well under fire and to 
go through the ordinary routine of the service, but only a 
few can come up to the high standard of a good soldier, 
one who leads his men and keeps the reluctant up to their 
work. 

I quote the description of a good soldier from the His- 
tory of the Fifth Maine, by the Reverend Geo. W. Bicknell, 



Winter Quarters 77 

D.D.^ He was the adjutant of his regiment, which was 
brigaded with the Sixteenth from September, 1861, to the 
close of the Sixteenth's term of service, and is remembered 
as one made of "good stufif." 

"A true soldier belongs to a distinct class of the human family. 
He glories in the possession of a knowledge of what his duty is, 
and in its faithful performance. He feels proud of his shining 
musket when he knows that it is sure at five hundred yards. He 
looks upon his polished equipments with an ill-concealed satis- 
faction. He steps with a feeling of superiority, sensible that it 
requires a man of heart, courage, and muscle to make a good 
soldier. He looks upon dandies and walking tailor shops with 
the deepest scorn and contempt. He thinks it is beneath him to 
respect the civilian very much, unless he be too old to be a sol- 
dier like himself, yet women he worships and adores. His lady 
is the world to him. He fights with the memory of her smile 
ever before him. He dies with her name trembling on his lips. 
The rich man and the poor man are alike to him. He spends 
his hard-earned money with the air of a millionaire, and yet he is 
benevolent and generous to a fault. His motto, a short life and a 
merry one. But, generally, the life of a soldier is brilliant 
on paper, reads well in verse, sounds sweetly from the rostrum, 
reflects glaringly in imagination, has a dashing romance around 
it ; yet the reality savors far differently. ' The brave sentinel treading 
his beat, and at his post dreaming waking dreams in reverie of 
home and loved ones,' is far more likely to be tearing and swearing 
because the relief don't come around, than to be indulging in 
sentimentalities. The soldier, 'boldly bearing the musket rusty 
with use and black with battle-stained smoke,' will be sure to be 
in the guard house if said musket is not bright and clean for Sun- 
day morning inspection. That 'blood-stained hero with soiled 



' After Adjutant George W. Bicknell was discharged from the service 
on account of wounds, he entered the Theological School of St. Lawrence 
University from which he graduated in 1866. In 1898, he received the 
honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from his alma mater. Northern 
New York holds him in high esteem and warm fraternal regard. 



78 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

garments,' will have to have a new suit before the next dress 
parade; and if he overdraws his allowance will have to pay for 
it too. The one is poetical, the other actual reality." 

I do not recall that any one of the brave men whom I 
knew in the army, whose courage was unquestioned and 
who were always ready to obey orders unflinchingly, ever 
expressed a wish to march on the enemy and engage him in 
battle, from the mere desire to get into a fight ; but I do recall 
the names of men who were constantly complaining because 
the army did not move, so that they could give the enemy a 
good thrashing; yet, when the chance came to meet in battle, 
the valiant-mouthing warrior did not improve the oppor- 
tunities. I do not mean to say that the impatient warriors 
did not fight, but I have believed that circumstances, beyond 
their control, had more to do with their getting into battle 
than their spontaneous feelings. 

I once knew a Scotch lad, who got into diflSculty in at- 
tempting to relieve one of his countrymen who was confined 
in the guard house for intoxication. He first applied to the 
officer of the day; that failing, he went to the colonel, and, 
through his intemperate language, was sent to keep his 
friend company. He had thereafter a strong disinclina- 
tion to remain in my company, but bided his time for mak- 
ing his feelings known. The opportunity came when he 
heard an officer say that he wanted to get at the enemy with- 
out further delay; this was a few weeks before the regiment 
entered upon the campaign of 1862. Sergeant Partridge 
of my company, who had heard this belligerent statement, 
asked me if I felt that way. I replied that I was willing 
to wait for the orders of those who knew when to move 
better than I did. My Scotch boy broke out, "I thought 
so." When asked what he meant by that he said that he 
did not wish to tell, but expressed a wish to be transferred to 



Winter Quarters 79 

the company of the officer who wanted to fight. He was 
asked to come into my quarters and state there the cause 
of his discontent. He again replied that he dared not tell, 
for fear of punishment, but having been promised immunity 
for what he might say, he said, "I wish to leave your com- 
pany, because I do not believe that you wish to fight. I 
want to go with men who do." I told him that I could not 
spare him, for I felt confident he would do his duty, but, 
that if he would come to me when a battle was to be fought, 
I would let him go and fight in the company he named; 
he was not satisfied and went away in bad humor. He was 
in the thickest of the fight at West Point, Virginia, on May 
7th, and tried to help me off the field when I was wounded. 
After the battle, he came in great haste to see me before I 
died, as he was informed by the field-surgeon that I was 
mortally wounded, and stood outside the cottage in which 
I lay, crying like a child, because the surgeon would not let 
him in. When my attention was called to his weeping I 
requested that he be admitted. He came in, put his arms 
about my neck, and asked if I would forgive him for what he 
had said in Camp Franklin. I did not see him again, for in 
the battle of Gaines's Mill, Virginia, June 27, 1862, he re- 
ceived a mortal wound. 

On November 11, 1861, Colonel Davies ordered an elec- 
tion to fill the vacancy of major. He sent for me before 
the meeting and requested me to be a candidate, stating that 
there would be others competing for the position; he frankly 
stated his preference for Captain Seaver, but insisted that 
a contest should be made. On my expressing unwillingness 
to enter a contest in opposition to his choice, he sent for my 
lieutenants and requested them to get all the support possi- 
ble for their captain. Captain Gilmore's name was also 
presented and a spirited contest was made, which ended, with 
the third ballot, in the selection of Captain Seaver. I have 



8o Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

never been able to discover the colonel's object in having 
several candidates, when he held the result in his own hands. 
All excitement subsided with the announcement of the last 
ballot, and Major Seaver entered upon the duties of his new 
rank with the good will of all. It was of no importance in 
itself that he was outranked by seven captains in the regi- 
ment, for he was one of six, appointed on the same day, who 
drew lots for rank. Stetson, Gilmore, Curtis, Gibson, Seaver, 
and Wood drew in the order named, and took rank accord- 
ingly. Captains Nevin and Parker had no competitors; 
Pomeroy and Palmer were appointed the same day, and, 
in drawing, Pomeroy won. Captain Palmer had declined 
to have his name used in the contest for major; he came 
from Clinton County and was recognized as one of the best 
captains in the regiment. 

The regiment had been reviewed by General Franklin, 
and the brigade by General McClellan; but the review of 
the whole army by President Lincoln and General McClel- 
lan, at Bailey's Cross Roads, on November 20th, was the 
most important event which took place between the battle 
of Bull Run and the beginning of the spring campaign. The 
important part of General Slocum's order for the review 
reads as follows: — 

"It is expected that this command will appear with knapsacks 
(light) and great coats, but without blankets, with haversacks 
and twenty rounds of ball cartridge. The men will be provided 
with one meal of cooked provisions in haversacks, and will carry 
their canteens, which will be filled with fresh water before leaving 
camp. The brigade will be formed at precisely 8.30 o'clock a.m., 
on the ground of the last review. 

"The general commanding this brigade requests that regimental 
commanders spare no pains to insure the neat and soldier-like 
appearance of their troops on this occasion. The officers wiU 
not wear epaulettes." 



Winter Quarters 8i 

On this day, the Sixteenth regiment reported its maxi- 
mum number in its whole term of service; — present for duty, 
748; present on special duty, unassigned recruits, in arrest, 
and sick 193; absent 22; a grand total of 963. Of this num- 
ber, 669 were in the review. This was a proud day for the 
Army of the Potomac; its cavalry, artillery, and infantry, 
to the number of seventy thousand men, were brought to- 
gether for the first time, and passed in review before its great 
organizer and the Commander-in-Chief. President Lincoln 
now saw the raw regiments, which had passed before him 
on their arrival at the Capital, transformed into a drilled 
and disciplined army. For more than two hours, the Presi- 
dent, escorted by the General-in-Chief and his staff, rode 
through the lines of battalions and batteries from the East- 
ern, the Middle, and the Western States; then, for a longer 
time at the reviewing stand, he watched them march by with 
firm step and unbroken cadence, with the bearing and dig- 
nified deportment of men schooled in the profession of arms. 

The soldiers' side of this grand ceremony is well told by 
Lieutenant Albert M. Barney of the Sixteenth, later Colonel 
of the One Hundred and Forty-second New York, and 
Brevet Brigadier- General United States Volunteers, in a 
letter to his sister: — 

"The grand review, which you of course have read of, was a 
truly grand affair, and must have been a splendid scene to look 
upon for those who took no part in the parade, for there is really 
hard work in such ceremonies. For instance, our regiment 
marched six miles to the reviewing ground with knapsacks, twenty 
rounds of ball cartridges, haversacks with dinner, and canteens 
with water. After arriving, we stood in the mud ankle deep for 
over two hours, waiting for the balance of the forces to take their 
positions. We stood at 'attention' while the President and Gen- 
eral McClellan and his staff made the rounds of the entire force, 
and it was no small task to ride past seventy thousand men in 



82 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

line of battle. After that we waited for about half the number 
to pass, before our turn came to march by the reviewing stand, 
from which we made a circuit of two miles, to reach the road 
which led to our camp; and when we reached it, all felt we had 
performed a hard day's work." 

On November 26th, the Twenty-sixth New York was 
transferred to another division, and the Ninety-sixth Penn- 
sylvania took its place in Slocum's brigade. We were sorry 
to lose our friends of the Twenty-sixth. We had not been 
called into battle during our association, but we had, never- 
theless, a strong belief in their trustworthiness, and read with 
no surprise of their fortitude and valor at the second Manas- 
sas, and again at Fredericksburg, where their losses place 
them high on the list of heavy suflFerers in action. The 
Ninety-sixth was a good regiment, bore its share of the hard- 
ships through which we passed, and did its part in winning 
the honors bestowed upon Slocum's, and later upon Bart- 
lett's brigade. 

Thanksgiving Day, 1861, was, I believe, the best of all 
which came in our army days. We had much to be thank- 
ful for, our lives had been spared in battle, and our losses, 
in the greater perils of camp life, were small in comparison 
with those of other regiments stationed near us. Nearly 
every one had received a box of such generous proportions 
that the few who had none were recipients of a share of the 
contents; for many of the boxes contained notes reading, 
"for you, and those of your comrades who may not be so 
well remembered." These home remembrances were too 
numerous to be recounted here, but all were cheering and 
conducive to our well-being, particularly the home-made 
comfortables which filled a large space in each box; there 
were also jellies, pastries and confections which gave pleasure 
of a more transitory character. 



Winter Quarters 83 

A cavalry soldier was executed on December 13th, for 
attempting to desert to the enemy, and the whole division 
was paraded to witness it; I was not so fortunate as on a 
former occasion, in getting a detail for picket, and went with 
the others who reported that day for duty. 

While the name of Chaplain Stratton had been borne on 
the rolls, from June 24th to October 31st, he had been unable 
to be present and perform the duties of his office, except for 
two visits. It was felt that a good active minister, whose 
conduct should be characterized by manly dignity and zeal- 
ous labor to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of those 
with whom he should be associated, was most desirable; 
with the approach of the new year, an effort was made 
to secure a suitable man, one with spiritual grace and physical 
strength. A meeting of the officers was called, and of the 
several names presented the one recommended by Major 
Seaver was invited to join us. In due time the Reverend 
Andrew M. Millar, of Frankhn County, reported for duty; 
his life and services were of the high order sought, and h^ 
soon won the respect and confidence of his associates. 

The chaplains of the division were of many different de- 
nominations, yet all united in praiseworthy efforts to combat 
the evil influences which, as by magic, promptly surround 
military camps. To this end, religious revivals were started 
in several regimental camps and were attended with most 
satisfactory results. Important as all felt it to be to bring 
light to the minds of the subordinate officers and enlisted 
men, it was thought to be of greater consequence to have 
the superior officers, particularly the regimental commanders, 
directed in the way of making their lives and language com- 
port with the dignity of their positions, that they might 
become fitting examples for their subordinates. The chap- 
lains held conferences, for the purpose of arranging the 
best plan for inaugurating a systematic and forceful attack 



84 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

on the chief sin which they sought to eradicate, — one whose 
enormity it was most difficult to bring to the comprehension 
of those most frequently guilty. This was called by the 
chaplains, profanity, — but some of the officers, when appealed 
to, said that it was not profanity, but the simple use of 
"cuss words," absolutely essential to produce results, es- 
pecially when drilling raw recruits and driving newly geared 
mules. 

Although the proceedings have not been found in the offi- 
cial records, and are therefore not to be wholly relied upon, 
it was reported that great success had attended the visits of 
certain chaplains to the colonels who were most addicted to 
this habit; and complete success was expected to follow a 
visit to the one most proficient in the use of the two lan- 
guages, one English and the other profane, — the second, 
called by some, a military auxiliary to the former. This 
duty, by common consent, was imposed upon our worthy 
Chaplain Millar; his dignity, his piety, exemplified by words 
and deeds, his persuasive speech, all supported by Scotch 
persistency, would, it was expected, work the change sought 
for. Our chaplain was welcomed most heartily by Colonel 
, and was attentively listened to, while he was show- 
ing the necessity of expunging from the vocabulary the 
harsh expletives which poisoned the air and chilled the hearts 
of thoughtful men. Mr. Millar supported his arguments by 
relating the benefits which had followed the abandonment 

of this habit by Colonel , since which time his regiment 

had made a marked advance in spiritual affairs, and clinched 
the statement, by saying, "Last Sunday, ten men confessed 
their sins, entered upon a new life, received baptism and 
entered into communion with the elect." " Do you tell me. 
Chaplain, that all this good has followed the abandonment 

of this habit, which I, in common vdth many other men, 

have regarded as absolutely necessary to move stupid men 



Winter Quarters 85 

and vicious mules ? " "Yes, I do, and I feel certain that your 
regiment will advance and be blessed, as it never can be while 
under the baleful influences against which good men con- 
tend." "Chaplain, I hope you are right, and I promise 
you that I will at once wholly abandon this d — habit, which 
you so justly condemn; not another d — word, calculated to 
annoy the most sensitive ear, shall be heard from me. To 
show you how much I appreciate your counsel and labors, 
and my desire to facilitate your good work, I will detail 
from the regiment fifteen men for baptism; they shall be ready 
any day you name. How will next Sunday, at 2 p.m. suit 

you? No regiment made up from the stupid miners 

from the State of shall ever outdo, in moral ethics and 

church attendance, the one I command, composed as it is 
of the dutiful descendants of those old Puritans, who sweet- 
ened the air of New England and buttressed our orthodox 
creed by hanging Quakers and burning witches." 

As the report goes on, our chaplain expressed regret that 
nothing could result from this interview, and informed the 
colonel that his plan was not in accord with the evangelizing 
methods pursued in free countries. It was, he told him, too 
much like that of a certain cannibal chief who, being deeply 
affected by the teachings of a missionary, wished to be bap- 
tized and to enter the church. On being told that, before 
he could take that important step, he must forgive his ene- 
mies, he replied, "I have no enemies. I have eaten all 
within reach, and I will eat the others as soon as they are 
captured." "Colonel, his application for membership into 
a Christian church was denied, and your plan for Chris- 
tianizing your command will not be approved. I cannot 
countenance compulsory baptism." 

The above is one of the several versions of what took 
place in the interview between Chaplain Millar and Colonel 
, but the former would never give satisfactory answers to 



86 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

laymen who sought the facts; he contented himself by say- 
ing, "interviews are seldom correctly reported, and it is 
enough for you to know that I shall have all the missionary 
labor I care to perform, in seeking to promote the welfare 
of the men of the regiment to which I am attached." Colonel 
's skill, valor and devotion were recognized by his pro- 
motion; and later, in civil life, where I sometimes met him, 
his friends held him in high esteem. When the end came, 
his memory was cherished as that of a good soldier, a pa- 
triotic citizen and a faithful worker in the church in which 
he had long been an active member. 

From the time when Laurence Sterne wrote, "the army 
swore terribly in Flanders," it has been believed by many, 
unfamiliar with army men, that profanity in its worst form 
is practised to a greater extent in military, than in civil, life ; 
such belief is not well founded, and, should a comparison be 
made, I have no doubt that the members of that profession, 
which by common consent stands next to the priesthood, are 
more exempt from this ojBfensive habit than are those un- 
taught and unpractised in the profession of arms. We hear 
much of the spotless Christian character of a few men who 
have attained great distinction in the profession of arms, 
and because of the high encomiums paid to them, the im- 
pression is made that commendation on this question is 
merited by no others. 

Major General Oliver Otis Howard, for more than fifty 
years an o£&cer in the United States Army, unquestionably 
stands in the front rank, as one possessing the cardinal vir- 
tues and Christian graces; yet it will not do to say that 
other officers in the army are destitute of the virtues so 
well exemplified in his life. He has been called "The Amer- 
ican Havelock"; to some this designation raises General 
Havelock to a dignity which he would not reach by standing 
alone. 



Winter Quarters 87 

The advent of 1862 was welcomed by the Army of the 
Potomac with salvos of artillery, volleys of musketry, bugles, 
bands and drum corps. This enthusiastic demonstration 
was the spontaneous expression of the feelings of irrepressible 
youth; the more sober-minded said that the arch genius of 
Pandemonium would have been puzzled to produce a greater 
discord. The people of Washington and Alexandria were 
suddenly aroused, their minds filled with dire forbodings 
and their ears with the most unearthly sounds. The active 
participants in this boisterous frolic were at last surfeited, 
and sought their tents to draw about them army blankets 
and the home-made comfortables of Thanksgiving Day, and 
soon felt, as no doubt did those whom they had so rudely 
awakened, the kindly sentiments of the soldier of an earlier 
war, who called down blessings on the man "who first in- 
vented sleep." 



CHAPTER VIII 

MARCHES PRELIMINARY TO THE CAMPAIGN OF 1862 

FAIRFAX SEMINARY was used as a hospital during 
the war, and is remembered most pleasantly by the 
members of the Sixteenth who were taken there for medical 
treatment; more for the nursing and care given them by 
Miss Sarah S. Bradley, later, wife of Lieutenant- Colonel 
Charles A. L. Sampson, Third Maine Volunteers, than as 
* ' the place where young men were taught to observe the ven- 
erable forms of the Episcopal Church." I quote from two 
of Lieutenant Walling's letters: 

"Camp Franklin, Virginia, February 19, 1862. 
"I have been in the brigade hospital six days, came back to 
camp to-day. ... I had a nice time there; enjoyed my stay very 
much. I was a patient at large, allowed to go where fancy or 
inclination desired. This I was glad of for various reasons, and 
the principal one is, I could see the attention and treatment the 
sick received. They are better cared for than I supposed they 
could be. All seemed satisfied with their attendants. Not a 
murmur or complaint did I hear. Miss Bradley, the matron, is 
extremely kind and attentive to all who are so unfortunate as to 
find it necessary to be placed under her protecting care. She is 
a lady of marked abilities and enters into the spirit of her mission. 
She says her whole heart is in this war. She left a salary of a 
thousand dollars a year for the war, and now gets twelve dollars 
per month." 

"Camp Franklin, VrRGmiA, February 26, 1862. 
"Colonel Davies' promotion, for 'gallant conduct at the battle 
of Bull Run,' has been a matter of great interest to us. The 



Preliminary Marches 89 

President has sent his nomination to the Senate as Brigadier- Gen- 
eral of Volunteers. He is still in command of the regiment, and of 
course, impatiently waiting orders for his more honorable position. 
When he leaves us, his successor will be Captain Joseph How- 
land, Assistant Adjutant-General, now on the staff of General 
Slocum. You will recollect he came out with us as adjutant. 
He is an excellent man and we hope we shall ever think as much 
of him as we do now. His wife and her sister are messengers 
of mercy to the sick. She has an abundance at her disposal, 
judging from what she is constantly placing in the hands of the 
unfortunate soldiers. They are said to be frequenters of all the 
hospitals on both sides of the Potomac. God bless the women. 
It is gratifying and encouraging to the sleepers in tents to know 
that the women are interested in and, I may say, enlisted in the 
war; that they are constantly engaged in devising ways and means 
to promote the comfort of the sick and inspiring the well to deeds 
of noble daring. Every city, village and neighborhood has its 
'circle' where the war spirit is nursed and where it finds an 
effective way of doing much good." 

March 7, 1862, Colonel Thomas A. Davies was promoted 
to be Brigadier-General United States Volunteers, and 
Captain Joseph Howland to be Colonel of the Sixteenth New 
York. Both promotions were well received; all were glad 
that our colonel had received recognition for his services 
at Bull Run, and that Colonel Howland was to succeed him 
in command of the regiment. The officers called on the 
general in the evening to express their congratulations, and 
to thank him for his care in qualifying them to discharge 
the duties of their new profession. He received all very 
kindly, referring to incidents of our past relations and giv- 
ing suggestions as to our future service. Leaving his quar- 
ters, I passed a number going in, and met another party, 
who said they would wait until those within should come 
out and give them an opportunity to see the general. Those 



go Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

of us on the outside, near enough to the general's quarters 
to hear moderately loud conversation, were silenced by a 
remark from the General; "Did you see Captain Curtis 
who just left here ? I want to tell you that he will be of no 
use in an active campaign; all the time and money spent on 
him has been thrown away." Some one said that they 
had never heard him speak unkindly of Captain Curtis; 
"O! " said he, "Curtis is well enough as a man and an 
officer, in camp; but, for active service, he will be utterly 
useless, and for the reason that he will get killed in the first 
engagement and all the instruction given him will be lost. 
I did not like to tell him, but you remember what I now say. 
He is too tall and cannot escape the enemy's bullets; if he 
does, their firing will not be very creditable." It was agreed 
that my difficulty could not be rectified, since there was no 
chance to apply the Procrustean treatment, and, with a 
good-natured laugh, the subject was dropped. The general 
wrote me a kindly letter when he heard of my wound at 
West Point and said, "You take two chances to one of a 
man of average height, and I am afraid that the enemy will 
get you next time." In after life he often spoke of his com- 
ments at Camp Franklin and of his calculations as to the 
chances I took in battle. There are few questions which 
mathematics will not aid in solving, but the chance of an 
individual in battle is the one as far removed from such 
calculation as any in our life experience. 

At dress parade, on Sunday, March 9, 1862, orders were 
read, naming Franklin's division as the First Division, 
First Corps, under command of General McDowell, and 
announcing that we were to march the next morning. Much 
of the night was spent in packing our belongings ; some were 
to be carried on the march and other articles left in storage 
at Alexandria. Reveille was sounded at 2 a.m., and in a 
heavy rain storm which continued all day, we marched 



Preliminary Marches 91 

fourteen miles to Fairfax Court House, where we slept for 
the first time under shelter tents. The ridge pole was so near 
the ground that the occupants could neither sit nor stand up- 
right; each man had two pieces of twilled cotton cloth, four 
feet wide and six feet long, and when two tented together 
they used two pieces for roofing and the other two for closing 
the ends of the tent. The enemy had evacuated Manassas; 
it was too muddy to drill and we waited for orders with com- 
mendable patience. On the evening of Friday, March 14th, 
we were ordered to retrace our steps, and marched all night, 
arriving in Camp Franklin on Saturday morning. Here we 
remained until April 4th, when we marched to Alexandria, 
and took the cars for Manassas Junction, where we pitched 
our tents south of the battle-field of Bull Run, close to the 
camps which the Confederates had recently abandoned. 
It was evident that the enemy had passed the winter in com- 
fortable quarters and had been abundantly supplied with 
the creature comforts usually found in military camps, — 
especially with "wet goods," for in the debris were many 
bottles "in which there was no sin." 

On April 8th, we marched along the railroad track, to 
Catlett's Station, eleven miles, arriving in the middle of the 
afternoon in a severe storm of snow and rain. I do not 
recall a more unseasonable snow storm than this one; four 
or five inches of snow fell and remained on the ground for 
three days; the grass and wheat were several inches high, 
the peach and apple blossoms had come and fallen. It 
was a dreary place where the regiment was halted to en- 
camp. Lieutenant-Colonel Marsh came to call the attention 
of the captains to a strict order which had been issued against 
the burning of fence-rails. When he communicated it to me 
I said that we were greatly in need of fuel, that there was 
an abundance of "spHt timber" near, and asked if we could 
burn anything of that description. He replied, "certainly," 



92 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

and hastened to notify the other companies. When he 
returned to headquarters and reported that he had deliv- 
ered the orders as directed, he was asked by Colonel How- 
land, "What material is being used to make the fires which 
I see starting up along the regimental hne?" Further in- 
quiry disclosed the fact that the first fire had been started 
in my company, and that it was made of rails. I was di- 
rected to report to headquarters; on arriving there I was 
asked by the colonel if I was burning rails. I replied, "No 
sir, my company is burning 'split timber,' as authorized by 
Lieutenant- Colonel Marsh." The lieutenant-colonel was 
asked to explain and frankly stated that he had replied 
affirmatively to the question of Captain Curtis, in regard 
to permission to burn split timber; he did not at the 
moment suspect that this included rails. I escaped the 
intended arrest, and the lieutenant-colonel received a repri- 
mand for his thoughtless reply to my request. Colonel How- 
land said that the spirit of the order had been violated, but, 
in view of the permission given by the lieutenant-colonel, 
no further action would be taken. 
I quote from two letters of Captain Parker to his wife: — 

"Camp near Manassas Junction, 

"Sunday, April 8, 1862. 

"The morning we left Camp Franklin, I wrote you. We ar- 
rived here that evening by cars. The ride was delightful, through 
hills and fine groves. Occasionally we saw a farmer ploughing, 
but it was always done in a poor way. As far as I have seen, 
nearly all the houses in Virginia were cast in the same mould, 
chimney on the outside at each end. The soil here is a red 
freestone loam, mixed with clay, naturally a very quick produc- 
tive soil, but, of course, very much worn out by the universal 
mode of Virginia farming. We passed within sight of Centre- 
ville Heights. It looked perfectly natural. We passed many 
Secesh camps after crossing Bull Run. The quarters were made 



Preliminary Marches 93 

of logs, plastered with mud, covered with shingles or boards 
and with good fire-places. I had some talk with a man who lives 
here, and he said it was positively necessary for the men from 
the far South to have such quarters or they could not winter 
here. The battle ground is about seven miles from here, but I 
have not had time to visit it, and as we have orders to march to- 
morrow morning at seven, I must lose the opportunity. We go 
forward towards the Rappahannock. ... It seems the programme 
is somewhat changed. McDowell has command of a separate 
military district and we are in it. He seems to be a pet of the 
authorities, but I am sure he is not my pet. I think General 
Kearny is very much his superior. But Franklin and Slocum 
I have great faith in. The weather is getting warm and pleasant. 
Flowers are in blossom, and the birds are singing." 

"Camp in the mxtd, April 10, 1862. 
"We are at Catlett's Station, twelve miles from the Rappa- 
hannock. Marched from Manassas Monday. Had a fine day 
for the march, but it commenced storming about half an hour 
before we pitched tents, and I certainly never saw a worse rain 
and snow than we had for three days. Two brigades at least, 
and I think three, are near by. The men scatter all over the 
country for five miles, in houses, barns, and whatever offers a 
shelter. We are in a grove and have plenty of wood and good 
water. My blankets got wet the first night, and my feet were 
so wet that I slept with my boots on last night. The ground is 
covered with snow and water, and you cannot easily imagine a 
more uncomfortable, mud-bedraggled set than we are. But all 
seem to enjoy themselves much more than you could suppose 
possible. Very few are sick. We manage to sing, play checkers, 
euchre and chess, build fires, dig ditches, eat and sleep." 

The regiment took cars, and on April 12th, returning to 
Alexandria, marched out to its first camp in Virginia, where 
it remained until the 17th; it then marched into Alexandria 
and, embarking on the steamer Daniel Webster, No. 2, 
proceeded down the Potomac two or three miles, and 



94 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

anchored for the night. Colonel Rowland's letters to his 
wife give an account of the week the regiment spent in getting 
to Ship Point. 

"Steamer Daniel Webster, April i8. 
"I have a chance to send a boat ashore, to get the mail, and 
so can say good morning to you. All the steamers are lying in 
the stream two or three miles below Alexandria, receiving their 
'tows'. There are about a hundred schooners and barges to 
take down. We tow four. All's well, the boat is crowded, but 
the men are more comfortable than I supposed they could be, 
and are behaving admirably. The work of getting them well 
on board was a hard one. I have 820 ofl&cers and men on this 
boat and the four schooners. The sick are doing well; the 
change of air and the rest are curing the dysentery. I do not 
know where we are going." 

"Near Fortress Monroe, Sunday, April 20. 

"No orders. The boat is becoming very dirty and can not be 
cleaned, as she is so crowded that there is no place to put any 
number of men, while cleaning is being done. The regiment is 
behaving well. I have had to punish only one man since we left 
Alexandria, but have made an example of him for smuggling and 
selling liquor. 

"We had a nice little service a short time ago and the chaplain 
is repeating it in different parts of the boat, as it is not safe to 
assemble the men in any one part, where even a couple of hun- 
dred could hear. The men were very attentive. The more I 
see of the regiment the more highly I think of it. I am sure the 
old Sixteenth will always behave creditably." 

"York River, April 22. 

"Here we still lie, awaiting orders, without a word of news and 

nothing to do. The boat is so crowded and dirty that life is 

becoming intensely disgusting, yet there does not appear any 

prospect of getting away. Last night there was heavy firing 



Preliminary Marches 95 

towards Yorktown, and we could see the flashing of the guns; 
but we do not know what it was. 

"April 24. Yesterday, at last, I landed the regiment, having 
asked permission to do so and have the boat thoroughly cleaned. 
Having picked out a piece of level ground at the head of a little 
bay where there were lots of oysters, I got a stern-wheeler and 
sent the regiment ashore by companies, and got all fairly into 
camp before sunset. 

"I suspect Commander Rodgers is the right sort of man for 
the Galena. I heard a story about him to-day. Some one said to 
him, 'Your iron plates are too thin; their thickness should be at 
least four inches.' His reply (somewhat profane) was, 'what to 
h — do I care about their thickness — my business is to go up 
York River and shell the enemy.'" 

On the evening of May 4th, the regiment re-embarked 
and ran up opposite Yorktown, where we anchored; on the 
morning of the 6th, the steamers carrying Franklin's divi- 
sion, convoyed by two gunboats, proceeded slowly up the 
York River, arriving opposite Brick House Landing, where 
all the infantry were debarked before sunset. 



CHAPTER IX 

BATTLE OF WEST POINT, VIRGINIA 

AFTER landing at the head of York River, the regi- 
ment marched a short distance, and stacked arms. 
After supper was over, the members of Company F vi^ere 
engaged in general conversation when Edwin R. Bishop, 
a lighthearted and fun-provoking man, rose from the ground 
and interrupted the conversation by saying, "Boys, if I 
should fall in the next battle, as I now believe I shall, I 
wish you would bury me under this tree, where I indicate 
by these lines." He then proceeded to mark with a pioneer's 
spade the outlines of a grave. Immediately Corporal George 
J. Love, a very sedate man, rose and picking up the spade 
which Bishop had used, said, "I would like you to dig my 
grave beside Bishop's, but please dig it with more regular- 
ity than his crooked lines indicate; I am the son of a sexton 
and have helped to dig many." He then proceeded to draw 
a parallelogram, dropped the spade, and sat down. Then 
Peter G. Ploof, a lad of twenty, much beloved for his boyish, 
winsome ways, picked up the spade, and said "If I fall, 
dig my grave here beside Love's, and do it as we dig graves 
at home. Please follow the lines I make for you." He 
drew the lines of the coffin used in those days, wider at the 
shoulders and tapering toward the head and foot. Conver- 
sation was resumed, and no further attention was paid to the 
incident. 

At three o'clock the next morning, May 7th, Companies F 
and G were ordered out to the picket line, where, at 9 a.m., 



Battle of West Point 97 

they met the advancing lines of General J. B. Hood's bri- 
gade, of Whiting's division. These companies could not 
stay the progress of the overwhelming force brought against 
them, but they made a manful resistance until the artillery 
was brought up and made ready for action; they were then 
ordered back, with 17 per cent, of their number among the 
killed and wounded. Three members of Company F were 
killed, — Bishop, Love and Ploof, and their comrades, in 
paying them the martial honors due the gallant dead, gave to 
each the resting place he had selected on the night before 
the battle. Beside them were buried Mummery, Seabury 
and Waymouth, of Company G. 

Corporal James Cook of Company F, whose leg was 
broken by a musket ball, was left on the field during its tem- 
porary occupation by the enemy; a Confederate soldier took 
his watch, purse and a Masonic ring. His call for help 
brought to his side a Confederate Mason, who caused Cook's 
property to be restored to him, filled his canteen with water, 
made him as comfortable as possible, and on leaving, said, 
^'we are enemies in honorable warfare, but on the plane 
where your disabihties have placed you the laws of humanity 
and charity prevail." 

Of the members of Company G, Seabury was found alive, 
but lived only long enough to tell his comrades that the 
Confederates had been kind to him, and had done all they 
could to make him comfortable; Waymouth had evidently 
been killed in the act of reloading his musket; Mummery's 
body was found in a pool of water with the throat cut. Great 
indignation was felt by all, and General Newton, in his 
report of the battle, referred to this case and others of less 
savagery, in terms of severe condemnation. That Mum- 
mery's throat should have been cut, when his wounds were 
mortal, was a myster}' which remained unsolved until, in 
February, 1869, I visited Texas. On the steamer, crossing 



98 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

the Gulf of Mexico to Brazos de Santiago, I fell in with two 
Texans who were in Hood's brigade, and in this battle of 
West Point. I questioned them about the battle, and asked 
them to recall any unusual circumstance connected with it. 
"There was nothing unusual," the spokesman said, "we 
found out there that the Yanks would fight, and were not 
to be driven with pop guns, as we were told when we joined 
Magruder's army at Yorktown." The other man added, 
"That was the place where we cut the Yank's throat." He 
went on to tell of the action, of their occupying the ground 
which we held at the beginning of the engagement, and said, 
"one, who was severely wounded and unable to stand, 
opened on the Confederates with a seven-shooter, every shot 
of which killed or wounded a man. It was thought that a 
wounded man, whose line of battle had been driven from 
the field, and who thereafter continued the fight on his own 
account, deserved to be summarily dealt with, so we cut his 
throat." 

It had been learned, after Mummery's death, that he had 
disobeyed orders in not turning in his pistol, at Alexandria, 
and that he had confided to a comrade his purpose never 
to be captured alive, but to inflict all the injury possible on 
the enemy. There are many cases reported, where disabled 
men have continued to fight after the opposing forces occu- 
pied the ground, and, in nearly all instances, they became 
the subjects of summary treatment; a case of this kind 
occurred in the late war with Spain, when a wounded Span- 
ish officer shot Lieutenant Ord, and was promptly dispatched 
by a volley from Ord's company. 

I quote from letters, and from official reports of the action 
at West Point, Virginia: — 



Battle of West Point 



99 



"Headquarters Sixteenth New York, Brick House Point, 
" York River, Virginia, May 8, 1862. 

"General: — 

"I have the honor to report the part taken by the regiment 
under my command, in the engagement of yesterday. 

"About 9 o'clock A.M. yesterday, I received orders from Briga- 
dier-General Slocum to report with five companies, (C, D, E, 
H, and I), to General Franklin on the right of the line. Com- 
panies A, B, F, G, and K were on picket. A, B, and K having 
been posted the night before, and F and G having reported to 
the general ofi&cer of the day. Colonel Bartlett, Twenty-seventh 
New York, at 3 o'clock a.m., and been sent to relieve a portion 
of the advance guard from the Twenty-seventh New York, 
at our centre and left. While the battalion under my command 
was marching to the front, I was ordered by General Slocum to 
support Captain Piatt's battery which was advancing near me, 
and to report to General Nevsrton. Captain Piatt took a posi- 
tion just beyond a small stream which empties into the York 
River on our left, and on the right of the road which leads inland 
from the point at which the division landed. I placed my battal- 
ion in column, on the left flank of the battery and a little in rear, 
but received orders from yourself to move to the left of the road 
within supporting distance, where I would be hidden from the 
enemy by the woods, in case he made his appearance. I sub- 
sequently received orders through an officer of your staff, to re- 
cross the stream and take position farther to the rear. As the 
execution of this order left Captain Piatt without support, he fell 
back some distance. A short time afterwards, orders were re- 
ceived through Captain Scofield of your staff for the infantry 
to recross the stream, when I took position in column, on the right 
of the road and on the left flank of Hexamer's battery, which had 
come and taken the position previously occupied by Captain 
Piatt. I remained in this position until about 5 o'clock p.m., 
two hours after the artillery fire ceased, when I was ordered by 
yourself to return to camp. The battalion was at no time under 
fire; but companies F and G were engaged early in the day as 
skirmishers, while on duty at the outposts, and met with some 



100 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

losses. As these companies were at the time detached from the 
regiment I inclose the reports of the company commanders. I 
have every reason to believe that the companies behaved well, 
and only fell back, when obliged to do so by greatly superior 
forces, from want of support and on account of the imminent 
danger of being outflanked and surrounded. 

"Companies A, B, and K, upon being relieved as pickets, re- 
turned to camp for food, and then started to rejoin their regiment, 
but on the way were ordered by Colonel Bartlett, commanding 
General Slocum's brigade, to support Captain Wilson's battery, 
F, First New York Artillery. They were not engaged and re- 
ceived orders to return to camp about 5 o'clock p.m. 

*'I have the honor of inclosing a list of killed, wounded and 
missing. The wounded were invariably robbed and in nearly 
every case were stripped of their jackets. 

"I am. General, very respectfully, 

"Your obedient servant, 

"Joseph Rowland 
^^ Colonel Sixteenth New York. 
"Brigadier-General John Newton." 

From Major Seaver's letter to The Malone Palladium: — 

"May 7, 1862. 

"Company F, Captain John C. Gilmore, and Company G, 
Capt-ain N. M. Curtis, of the Sixteenth were engaged to-day. 
For a time they were nearly surrounded, but fought their way 
through great odds. Captain Curtis, while urging on his men, 
was struck by a ball in his left breast, directly over his heart. 
The ball struck a rib, glanced around and came out of his back. 
Twice he rallied his men after the shot, and, by his presence of 
mind and bravery, doubtless saved many a valuable life. Cap- 
•tain Gilmore was in nearly as bad a condition and barely escaped. 
. . . Many of the dead and wounded left on the field were stripped 
of portions of their clothing, their pockets rifled of valuables, 
and, in one case, the most horrid barbarities perpetrated on the 
person, as that of Mummery, whose throat was cut and body 



Battle of West Point 



lOI 



thrown into a marsh. Our men behaved well, and are all eager 
for an opportunity to avenge the death of their comrades." 

Captain John C. Gilmore's report not having been found 
the follovdng letter is inserted. 

"Washington, D.C., May 31, 1904. 
"Dear General Curtis: — 

''As I now recall the action of May 7th, 1862, at West Point, 
Virginia, my company held the left of the line and was deployed 
as skirmishers with a small part of it in support or reserve. On 
my right was your company, formed in the same way as mine, 
and, at the time of starting, was under the command of Lieu- 
tenant S. C. Vedder of your company. I am not at this time sure 
whether we were advancing or had halted, when the fight com- 
menced with the enemy in much stronger force than ours. While 
my company was holding them in check in my immediate front, 
they, by a strong force, drove the left of Vedder's line back, ad- 
vanced beyond the right of my line, turned to the right, and 
opened on my line a flank and reverse fire. I turned my line to 
face the enemy, about the same time you advanced with your 
company, having joined it from another part of the field, and drove 
the enemy from my left. In making this movement you received 
a severe wound in your left breast, but kept the field until we were 
ordered to retire, which order was given as soon as the artillery 
was put into position to open fire. Your prompt action in com- 
ing to my aid saved, without doubt, my company from greater 
loss than it sustained, which was three killed and five wounded. 

"Corporal James Cook of my company was severely wounded 
in the early part of the engagement and fell into the hands of the 
enemy. Later in the day we recovered the bodies of our killed 
and brought off the wounded, except Barnhart and Kelley of my 
company, who were carried to Richmond. 

"After the regiment went into camp on the nth of May, Gen- 
eral McClellan rode to our regimental headquarters, and re- 
quested Colonel Rowland to send for the captains of the two 
companies engaged at West Point, that he might thank them in 



I02 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

person for their good conduct in the engagement. When informed 
that Captain Gilmore was on picket, and Captain Curtis on a 
hospital boat in the York River, he asked Colonel Rowland to 
convey to them his thanks and commendations. On returning 
to the camp the next morning, Colonel Rowland gave me General 
McClellan's message, and informed me that he had communi- 
cated the same to you by mail. 

"Yours cordially 

"John C. Gilmore, 

"Brigadier-General U. S. A., Ret J" 

From Advance and Retreat,^ by Lieutenant-General J. B. 
Hood, C. S. A. :— 

"Whilst in bivouac opposite West Point, General Whiting in- 
formed me that a large body of the enemy had disembarked at 
Eltham's Landing, that our cavalry was on picket upon the high 
ground overlooking the valley of the York River, and instructed 
me to move my brigade in that direction, and drive the enemy 
back if he attempted to advance from under cover of his gun- 
boats. Pursuant to imperative orders, the men had not been 
allowed to march with loaded arms during the retreat. On the 
7th, at the head of my command, I proceeded in the direction of 
Eltham's, with the intention to halt and load the muskets, upon 
our arrival at the cavalry outpost. I soon reached the rear of a 
small cabin upon the crest of a hill, where I found one of our 
cavalrymen half asleep. The head of the column, marching by 
the right flank, with the Fourth Texas in front, was not more 
than twenty or thirty paces in my rear, when, simultaneously 
with my arrival at the station of the cavalry picket, a skirmish 
line, supported by a large body of the enemy, met me face to 
face. The slope from the cabin toward the York River was 
abrupt, and, consequently, I did not discover the Federals till 
they were almost close enough to shake hands. I leaped from 
my horse, ran to the head of my column then about fifteen paces 

' Page 21. 



Battle of West Point 103 

in my rear, gave the command, "forward into line," and ordered 
the men to load. The Federals immediately opened fire, but 
halted as they perceived our long line in rear. Meanwhile, a 
corporal of the enemy drew down his musket upon me as I stood 
in front of my line. John Deel, a private in Company A, Fourth 
Texas, now residing in Gonzales, Texas, had, fortunately, in this 
instance, but contrary to orders, charged his rifle before leaving 
camp ; he instantly killed the corporal,^ who fell within a few feet 
of me." 

Casualties in Battle of West Point 

Killed Wounded Missing Total 

Confederate 8 40 48 

Union 50 113 28 191 

Companies F and G, Sixteenth New York, took into action 
on May 7, 1862, three officers and one hundred and two 
enlisted men. Casualties, six killed, and eleven wounded, 
total seventeen. The nominal list will be found in Appendix 
A, page 362. 



' This was Corporal George J. Love, the first man killed in the Six- 
teenth New York. 



CHAPTER X 

FROM PAMUNKEY TO THE CHICKAHOMINY 

THE regiment, with the troops of Franklin's division, 
remained near the battle-field of the 7th for four 
days, and then marched to Eltham. While it was in this 
camp, General McClellan rode to regimental headquarters, 
and sent the messages referred to by General Gilmore in his 
letter of May 31, 1904. This visit to the regiment furnishes an 
illustration of General McClellan's strong personal interest in 
the welfare of his soldiers ; he first instructed them, and then 
watched their progress, and commended their well-doing. 
This element of his character affords one of the reasons why 
General McClellan possessed that enthusiastic affection of 
the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac which was held by 
no other commander under which it marched and fought. 
The miUtary commander who gives to his subordinates 
generous praise for their conduct in battle adds to their self- 
appreciation, which is one of the strongest elements of their 
military efficiency; it increases their regard for him, and 
cultivates confidence in themselves. 

A march of ten miles, beginning at three o'clock in the 
morning and ending in a broiling sun, brought us to Cum- 
berland, a farm with a landing on the Pamunkey River; 
here the division joined the main army which had fought the 
battle of Williamsburg, on its march from Yorktown. Two 
days later, on May 15 th, the regiment formed line at day- 
light and marched eight miles, in a heavy rain storm, to 
White House. This plantation was the property of Mrs. 



From Pamunkey to the Chickahominy 105 

Robert E. Lee and was carefully guarded, while held as a 
base of supplies. It attracted much attention on account of 
the Colonial and Revolutionary memories which surrounded 
it; here Washington had courted and married Mrs. Martha 
Custis. Mrs. Rowland, the wife of our colonel, visited it 
while we were encamped on the farm, and gave the following 
description : — 

"Half a mile above us is the White House naming the place, 
a modem cottage, (if ever 'white' now drabbed over), standing 
where the early home of Mrs. Washington stood. We went 
ashore this morning, and, with General Franklin and his aides, 
strolled about the grounds — an unpretending place, with old trees 
shading the cottage, a green lawn sloping to the river, and an 
old-time garden full of roses. The house has been emptied, but 
there are some pieces of quaint furniture, brass fire-dogs, and just 
inside the door this notice is posted: 'Northern soldiers, who 
profess to reverence the name of Washington, forbear to dese- 
crate the home of his early married life, the property of his wife, 
and now the home of her descendants. A grand-daughter of 
Mrs. Washington.' 

"Some one has written underneath in pencil, 'Lady, a North- 
em of&cer has protected this property, within sight of the enemy 
and at the request of your overseer.' It is government property 
now and the flag waves from the top, and sentinels pace the 
piazza." 

General McClellan organized, at White House, the Fifth 
and Sixth Provisional Corps; the Fifth under command of 
General Fitz John Porter, and the Sixth under General 
William B. Franklin. Franklin's old division, under com- 
mand of General Henry W. Slocum became the First, and 
General Wilham F. Smith's the Second Division; Colonel 
Joseph J. Bartlett of the Twenty-seventh New York , as 
senior colonel, assumed command of Slocum's, the Second 
Brig-ade. On May 19th, the regiment marched three miles 



io6 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

beyond Tunstall's Station and bivouacked for the night, 
and proceeded the next day to Cold Harbor, near the Chick- 
ahominy River. The infantry of the Fourth Corps arrived 
on May 20th, at Bottom's Bridge, and Casey's division 
forded the Chickahominy to protect the force which at once 
began to rebuild the bridge; Couch's division of the Fourth 
Corps followed Casey's, and both were employed in throw- 
ing up defences to secure the left flank. The Third Corps 
crossed and moved up to the support of the Fourth Corps. 

On the 22nd, under command of Colonel Bartlett, the 
Sixteenth and the Twenty-seventh New York, a section of 
artillery, and a squadron of the First New York Cavalry 
went on a reconnaissance toward Mechanicsville, a small 
hamlet with a guide-board reading, "Five miles to Rich- 
mond." The detachment drove in the enemy's pickets, ad- 
vanced close to his lines, learned his position, and returned 
to camp at 1 1 p.m. ; the casualties were one cavalryman killed 
and one captured. Acting upon the information obtained, 
General Stoneman, vsdth a cavalry force, captured the place 
on the following day. Our occupation of Mechanicsville 
deprived the people of Richmond of the pleasure they had 
long enjoyed, of driving there on summer evenings, and 
dining on the banks of the Chickahominy. 

On the march from White House, we passed over ter- 
ritory which recalled many interesting incidents connected 
with the Colonial and Revolutionary periods. At Me- 
chanicsville, we came to the scene of a most important event 
in the history of the Jamestown Colony. The descendants 
of this, the first successful English settlement in America, 
delight to call Jamestown "The Cradle of the Republic"; 
as we, descendants of New England, call Plymouth "The 
Cradle of Liberty." It was here, or near this place, on the 
i6th day of December, 1607, that Captain John Smith was cap- 
tured, while in search of com for the colonists at Jamestown. 



From Pamunkey to the Chickahominy 107 

After many days' travel, during which he was exhibited by 
his captors, he was taken to the court of the Great Chief 
Powhatan for final judgment and sentenced to execution. 
When the sentence was about to be carried out, and the 
executioners' clubs were raised to complete the savage edict, 
Pocahontas, the favorite child of the chief, for a child she 
was of but ten summers, sprang out from the throng and 
placed her head upon that of the intended victim. Extraor- 
dinary as are the incidents of succor and reprisal recorded 
in Persian, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Latin, mediaeval, or 
modern story, not one of them carries the leading character 
so far beyond the realms of expectancy as the act of this 
maiden, in thrusting herself between death and this strange 
man; in every other scene of remarkable character, where 
pity, love, justice, or mercy has interposed to change the 
current of human affairs, practice or precept has mingled 
its influence with spontaneous impulse. In the social ethics 
of the Indian, a woman was an asset to be disposed of by 
her father; sentiment had no existence. What impulse 
stirred the springs of action in this untutored child, the psy- 
chologist only can disclose. The one who knows most con- 
cerning the Hmitless range of the human heart will doubtless 
come nearest to the solution. 

Dr. Gaines's grist mill had been seized by order of Gen- 
eral Slocum, who detailed Captain Gibson of the Sixteenth 
to superintend its operations with two men of the regiment, 
Nelson Lauber of Company H, and George H. Godden of 
Company A, as practical millers; they took charge of gangs 
of men and ran the machinery continuously. Captain 
Wood of the Sixteenth, with a guard of infantry and cavalry 
and a number of teams from the division train, was detailed 
to collect wheat and com from the farms within our lines, 
to supply the mill; the com was on the cob, and twenty men 
from the Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania were kept busy shelling 



io8 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

it by hand. A mess was established at the mill, in charge 
of Jotham Coon, who supplied all employed with food until 
the division moved to a new camp near Mechanicsville. 

On May 27th, Bartlett's brigade marched, at 5 o'clock in 
the morning, to Mechanicsville, and the Sixteenth encamped 
on the edge of a wood about half a mile east of the Chicka- 
hominy, where they did picket duty and furnished details 
for bridge building. 

Before starting out on the march to Mechanicsville, Lieu- 
tenant Barney sent a young colored boy, Aleck Simpson, 
who had joined the regiment at Tunstall's and "taken up" 
with him, to a spring on the banks of the Chickahominy for 
a canteen of water. Careful directions were given as to 
the path which he was to follow to a stated point, then turn 
to the left and go to the bank of the river where the spring 
would be found. After waiting for more than an hour, 
when ten minutes would have been ample to make the trip, 
Barney concluded that his boy had got enough of army 
life and deserted. But with daylight Aleck came back 
with an empty canteen, and, when sharply spoken to for 
disobeying orders, said, "I got los, but for the river the 
rebs would have got me; it was so dark, I could not tell my 
lef han from my rite han." The explanation was accepted 
and the time soon came when it was known that Aleck 
could see both sides of a path as clearly as any one. 

General McClellan caused eleven bridges to be built 
across the Chickahominy, with corduroy roads at each end 
extending across the swamps which line the river, the enemy 
having destroyed all the bridges before our army reached the 
river; and the floods soon ruined many of those we con- 
structed, but they were again rebuilt. Our pickets were 
generally received with a few artillery shots, and at times 
with musketry, but these exchanges were neither destructive 
or of long duration. It not infrequently happened that 



From Pamunkey to the Chickahominy 109 

the pickets would meet between lines to exchange coffee and 
tobacco, and, after returning to their respective sides, ex- 
change shots to show that these friendly attentions had in 
no way lessened their devotion to the cause which each 
supported. It was sometimes agreed that they should fire 
high at first. One day, the enemy sent a twelve pound 
conical shell which fell in wet ground, near Battery D, 
Second United States Artillery, but did not explode; it was 
dug up, a new fuse was inserted by a gunner of the battery, 
and it was sent back again, where it was seen to hit and de- 
stroy an ammunition wagon. This battery was a great fa- 
vorite in our division; those who knew William H. Cox, of 
Brasher, will remember his love for it, and that to the day 
of his death there was added to his signature, "Sergeant, 
D, Second United States Artillery." He was justly proud 
of an honorable title worthily won in action, and, in all his 
civil life, he exhibited the sterling qualities which had en- 
abled him to earn it. 

Soon after our arrival at Mechanicsville, when the Twenty- 
seventh New York was ordered into line to march to the 
support of General Porter whose guns indicated a battle, 
a recruit told his captain that he could not go into action. 
He was taken to General Slocum, with the expectation that 
the counsel of the commander would stiffen him up, but, 
on seeing the General, he began crying and begged to be 
sent home; when told that he was acting like a baby, he said, 
"I wish I were a baby, and a girl baby too.'' His tears did 
not prevent his being sent into the ranks, where in time he 
demonstrated that he had the fibre and the spirit of a man. 
Nothing serious came of the affair at Hanover Court House, 
as Porter's forces soon dispersed the enemy, and nothing 
beyond picket firing and small engagements occurred north 
of the Chickahominy, until the great battle a month later. 

McClellan's forces were most unfortunately placed, as 



no Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

they were divided by a river, at all times difficult, and some- 
times impossible, to cross, which ran at right angles to liis 
front; the Fourth Corps was near Fair Oaks and Seven 
Pines; Kearny's division of the Third Corps was in advance 
of Savage's Station, and Hooker's division of the same corps, 
on the left, near White Oak Swamp; the Second Corps was 
still on the left bank, near Grapevine Bridge, in position to 
support either wing of the army; the Sixth Corps was on 
the north side, extending from New Bridge towards Me- 
chanicsville; and the Fifth Corps was stationed on the north 
and east, so as to connect with the cavalry guarding the base 
of supplies, and to join with McDowell's left when he 
should come forward from Fredericksburg to co-operate 
with McClellan in the attack on Richmond. That this 
situation violated an important mihtary maxim, as well as 
the plainest principles of common sense, was well known to 
General McClellan and to the thoughtful members of his 
army, as well as to the observant enemy. The left had 
been advanced beyond the Chickahominy, to facilitate an 
attack upon Richmond which was to be made on the arrival 
of McDowell. McClellan could have withdrawn his left to 
the north bank of the river, but, in doing so, he would have 
practically abandoned the attack upon Richmond; it would 
have been safe, after the destruction of the Merrimac by 
the Monitor, to withdraw from the White House, and to 
establish his base on the James, but he was not permitted 
to do this, as is shown by the orders of the Secretary of War 
from whose letter of May i8th, 2 p.m., the following extract, 
is taken : — 

"The President is not willing to uncover the capital entirely. . . . 
In order, therefore, to increase the strength of the attack upon 
Richmond at the earliest moment, General McDoweU has been 
ordered to march upon that city by the shortest route. ... He is 
ordered, keeping himself always in position, to save the capital 



From Pamunkey to the Chickahominy m 

from all possible attack, so to operate as to put his left wing 
in communication with your right wing, and you are instructed 
to co-operate so as to establish this communication as soon as 
possible, by extending your right wing to the north of Rich- 
mond. . . . 

"When General McDowell is in position on your right his sup- 
plies must be drawn from West Point, and you will instruct your 
staff officers to be prepared to supply him by that route. The 
President desires that General McDowell retain command of the 
Department of the Rappahannock and of the forces with which 
he moves." 

The Battle of Fair Oaks 

The worst storm and heaviest fall of rain during the time 
that the army was encamped near the Chickahominy came 
on the night of May 30th; flashes of lightning were almost 
continuous, and the thunder was appalHng. The great 
downfall of water swept away all the bridges, except Bottom's 
Bridge, six miles below the left of General Sumner's corps, 
and Grapevine Bridge, which was floated and rendered 
unsafe; yet the next day General Sumner crossed the latter 
with the Second Corps; the bridge, however, held together 
only long enough for the passage of his troops, for, as the 
last crossed, the south end was submerged and other por- 
tions floated away. Favored by these conditions, the en- 
emy, at noon on May 31st, made a vigorous attack with an 
overwhelming force on General Casey's division of General 
Keyes' corps, which held the advance of the army encamped 
on the south side of the Chickahominy, General Keyes 
brought forward to the support of Casey the division of 
General Couch, and asked General Heintzelman for assist- 
ance. He sent General Kearny's division. The contest 
was kept up with charges and counter charges until 4.30 
P.M., when General Sedgwick of Sumner's corps arrived 
and was put into action on the right of Casey's division. 



112 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

The battle was sharply continued until dark, when our 
troops, having exhausted the ammunition in their cartridge- 
boxes and that taken from the boxes of the dead and wounded, 
rested on their arms. Just as the firing ceased, General 
Richardson of the Second Corps, with the infantry of his 
division, arrived and bivouvacked for the night near the left 
of Sedgwick's division. His artiller}% which on account of 
the deep mud could not keep up with the infantry, arrived 
on the field at 5 o'clock the next morning. 

At six o'clock on Sunday, June ist, the enemy renewed 
the battle by a fierce attack on the Union right, at which 
point General Hooker, with his division of the Third Corps, 
joined in. The steady fire of our artillery and iniantry, 
extending along the entire front from our right to our left, was 
effective from the beginning, and in one hour the enemy's 
line began falling back; then a bayonet charge was ordered 
and his line was driven toward Richmond in great confu- 
sion. Our troops regained the ground lost in the early part 
of the engagement on Saturday, recovered one piece of 
artillery of the seven lost from General Keyes' corps the 
day before, and found, in the language of General Sickles' 
report : — 

"The fields strewn with Enfield rifles, marked 'Tower, 1862,' 
and muskets marked 'Virginia,' thrown away by the enemy in 
his hurried retreat. In camp occupied by General Casey and 
General Couch on Saturday, before the battle of Seven Pines, 
we found rebel caissons filled with ammunition, a large number 
of small arms, and several baggage wagons, beside two barns 
filled with subsistence and forage." 

The Confederate troops engaged were the divisions of 
Generals Longstreet, D. H. Hill, Whiting, Huger (only a 
part of it brought into action the first day), G. B. Ander- 
son's Special Brigade, and Stuart's cavalry. 



From Pamunkey to the Chickahominy 113 

The forces taken into action on each side were of nearly 
equal numbers. The losses of both armies were large, par- 
ticularly in officers. 







Casualties 








Killed 


Wounded 


Missing 


Total 


Confederate 


586 


6,268 


227 


7,081 


Union 


790 


3.594 


647 


5.031 


Casualties in 


Regiments 


raised in whole or in part in 


Northern 






New York. 






Thirty-fourth 


23 


71 


3 


97 


Ninety-second 


8 


69 


28 


105 


Ninety-sixth 


8 


31 


20 


59 


Ninety-eighth 


4 


41 


28 


73 



Major John E. Kelley, Ninety-sixth New York, was killed 
two days before the battle while in charge of the picket line. 

The Ninety-second, the Ninety-sixth and the Ninety- 
eighth New York regiments were in Casey's division, and 
suffered their proportion of the thirty per cent, of the casu- 
alties sustained by the brigades of which they were a part. 
This record shows where they stood in a battle which was 
sadly misrepresented in the early reports ; but later ones gave 
them the credit to which they were worthily entitled. The 
Sixteenth was on the north side of the Chickahominy 
and unable to take part in the battle, but was deeply inter- 
ested, as we knew that many of our Northern New York 
boys were receiving their baptism of fire, and a most severe 
one. 

General Slocum ordered a reconnaissance to be made on 
June I St, and it fell to Company B of the Sixteenth to lead; 
Company D was ordered to the bank of the river to protect 
the members of Company B, but was not ordered to cross. 
The planks and stringers had been removed from the bridge; 
one of the planks, eighteen inches wide and thirty-two feet 
long, was found and placed on the northern bank, and 



114 ^^^1 ^^^ ^^ Chancellorsville 

Captain Tapley, with Mathew Nesbit, John F. Parker, 
and Frank Parody waded the stream, and held the west- 
em end on their shoulders, the plank being too short by three 
or four feet to reach the other side. Over this narrow 
plank Alexander Noble, followed by other members of the 
company, gained the south side. The crossing, under the 
circumstances, was a daring act. 



June 2nd was one of the days always welcomed by every 
soldier, pay day. After receiving his pay, settUng with the 
sutler, and balancing his accounts with his associates, the 
little that is left causes him to rise to a higher position of 
self importance and really enhances the value of his services 
as a unit in the army. Prompt and regular pay to a soldier 
should be regarded as next in importance to regular rations 
and ready ammunition. On this day, General McClellan 
issued his order compUmenting the army on their past ser- 
vices, expressing his confidence in their future efforts and 
the hope that "they would meet and crush the enemy in the 
very centre of the rebellion." On June 12th and 13th, 
McCall's division joined the army and was attached to the 
Fifth Corps. 

The following extract is from a letter from Lieutenant 
A. M. Barney to his sister: 

"Camp Sixteenth New York, near New Bridge, 
"Virginia, June 13, 1862. 

"I send you a photograph of Major Joel J. Seaver, of the Six- 
teenth, he is a splendid fellow and all like him socially. . . . Put 
the photograph in my album, I shall try to send you more, es- 
pecially of our colonel. He has just presented to each member 
of the regiment a nice straw hat, with a ribbon round it, on which 
is printed the number of the regiment in gilt letters and figures. 
The officers' hats are bound with black, the others have no bind- 
ing. He has given to the regiment rubber and woolen blankets, 



From Pamunkey to the Chickahominy 115 

leggings, hats, flags, and new instruments for the regimental 
band, all costing about five thousand dollars. His wife is here 
with the Sanitary Commission and takes care of the sick and 
wounded of the Sixteenth, and sends oranges, lemons, wines, 
and other useful articles in large quantities to the sick. The 
colonel has given one thousand dollars to the Sanitary Commis- 
sion. You can judge of the good qualities of the man and his 
amiable wife. Every man loves them with lasting devotion. 
They are about twenty-five years of age. We are in our old camp, 
five miles from Richmond. Captain Osborn's battery is en- 
camped six miles from us. It is a good one and did splendid 
work at Williamsburg. Lieutenant George B. Winslow called 
on us yesterday." 



There are many references to Osborn's Battery D, First 
New York Light Artillery in the letters, written by mem- 
bers of Companies D and G of the Sixteenth, which have 
been placed at my disposal. The interest felt by the members 
of those three companies in each other's welfare, and the 
success of the organizations to which they severally belonged, 
were due to the fact that most of the ofificers and many mem- 
bers of these companies had been fellow students in the 
Gouvemeur Wesleyan Seminary, before the opening of the 
war, and the friendships there formed were strong and of 
an enduring character. The "splendid work at Williams- 
burg," referred to by Lieutenant Barney, is worth recalling 
here, for it recounts an act of sturdy valor which was without 
parallel in our campaign, and which has been surpassed in 
no other. 

I quote from General Joseph Hooker's report^ of the 
operations of his division, the Second of the Third Army 
Corps, in the battle of Williamsburg, Virginia, May 5, 1862: 



' W. R. Vol. XI. Pt. I. page 464. 



ii6 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

"Under my chief of artillery, Webber's battery (H, First United 
States Artillery) was thrown forward in advance of the felled 
timber, and brought into action in a cleared field on the right of 
the road and distant from Fort Magruder about seven hundred 
yards. No sooner had it emerged from the forest on its way to 
its position, than four guns from Fort Magruder opened on it, 
and after it was still farther up the road it received the fire from 
two additional guns from a redoubt on the left. However, it 
was pushed on, and before it was brought into action two officers 
and two privates had been shot down, and before a single piece 
of the battery had been discharged its cannoneers had been driven 
from it, despite the skill and activity of my sharpshooters in pick- 
ing off the rebel gunners. Volunteers were now called for by 
my gallant chief of artillery, Major Wainwright, to man the bat- 
tery now in position, when the officers and men of Osborn's 
battery sprang forward and, in the time I am writing, had those 
pieces well at work." 

Battery D, First New York Light Artillery, was recruited 
in western St. Lawrence and in Jefferson counties, and re- 
ceived its baptism of fire under the circumstances recorded 
by General Hooker. That the officers and men of the bat- 
tery should have responded so promptly to a call for volun- 
teers to serve the guns of a regular battery, which had been 
abandoned by its own gunners, is merely one proof of their 
steadiness and devotion to duty, raised to the highest plane 
of heroic action. 

Slocum's division, on June i8th, crossed Woodbury's 
Bridge to the south side of the Chickahominy, and the Six- 
teenth encamped on Gamett's farm, between the river and 
Fair Oaks Station, so close to the enemy's camps that their 
roll calls could be heard by our members. While here, the 
regiment furnished daily details to build roads and forti- 
fications; twice it was called out for battle, but the alarms 
passed and no orders came for an advance. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE BATTLE OF GAINES'S MILL 

FROM June i8th, the Second, the Third, the Fourth and 
the Sixth Corps were stationed on the south side of 
the Chickahominy. The Fifth Corps, with the greater part 
of the cavalry and the siege guns placed in important posi- 
tions, held the line from Meadow Bridge to the Pamunkey. 
The Secretary of War's order of the i8th of May was still 
in force, "to extend your right wing to the north of Rich- 
mond." The expectation that General McDowell, with his 
army of forty thousand men, would join McClellan was, 
by reason of delay, changed to doubt until the receipt of 
the Secretary's dispatch of June 26th: 

"Arrangements are being made as rapidly as possible to send 
you five thousand men as fast as they can be brought from Ma- 
nassas to Alexandria and embarked, which can be done sooner 
than to wait for transportation at Fredericksburg. They will be 
followed by more, if needed. McDowell, Banks, and Fremont's 
forces will be consolidated as the Army of Virginia, and will oper- 
ate promptly in your aid by land." 

This dispatch ended all expectation as to the arrival of 
McDowell's forces. The change in the plans of the Secre- 
tary of War was possibly brought about by the operations 
of the Confederates, as disclosed by the following extract 
from Dabney's Life of General Thomas J. Jackson, C. S. A}: 

"As soon as the news of Jackson's victory [at Port Republic] 



' Vol. II., page 168. 



ii8 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

was received in Richmond, it was judged that the proper time had 
arrived for the great movement. To make it successful, it was 
necessary to mask Jackson's removal from the Valley, lest his 
enemies, lately defeated, should assail some vital point, and to 
continue the diversion of McDowell's army from a union with 
McClellan. To further these objects, a strong detachment, con- 
sisting of the brigades of Whiting, Hood, and Lawton, which 
made an aggregate of seven thousand men, was sent to Jackson 
by way of Lynchburg and Charlottesville. It was so arranged 
that the captives from Port Republic, on their way to the mili- 
tary prisons of Richmond, should meet all these troops upon the 
road, and on their arrival there General Lee dismissed the offi- 
cers among them on parole. He knew they would hasten to 
Washington and report what they had seen. The report of 
General McClellan reveals the success of the expedient. He 
states that the answer made by Mr. Lincoln to the next of his 
repeated requests for the co-operation of McDowell was the fol- 
lowing, that he could not now need aid, inasmuch as the army 
of General Lee was weakened by fifteen thousand men just sent 
to General Jackson, and the dangers of Washington City were 
to the same extent increased. (The Federal officers, with their 
customary exaggeration, had doubled the number of Jackson's 
reinforcements.) 

"He meanwhile was deceiving the enemy in the Valley with 
equal adroitness. The Federal army precipitately broke up its 
camp, and retreated to Strasbourg, where they began busily to 
fortify themselves. The Confederate cavalry then drew a cordon 
of pickets across the country just above them, so strict that the 
befooled enemy never learned Jackson's whole army was not on 
his front until he discovered it by the disasters of McClellan." 

On the 26th of June, the enemy in strong force attacked 
the left of Porter's line, which he v^^as able to parry while 
falling back to the east of Beaver Dam Creek, with no loss 
of guns or material. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 27th 
of June, General Porter was ordered to withdraw to the east 



Battle of Gaines's Mill 119 

of Powhite Creek, and at sunrise his troops were in the posi- 
tion designated. The siege guns were sent across the Chick- 
ahominy, and were later used in enfilading the enemy's 
right in his attack on Porter's left, in the afternoon of June 
27th. Fearing for the safety of Stoneman, whose cavalry 
and two regiments of infantry under his command were 
guarding the Hne to the White House, Porter ordered him to 
move his force to the White House and to rejoin the army, 
wherever it might be. 

That the commander of the Army of the Potomac was con- 
scious of the difficulties of his position is shown by the steps 
he had taken on reaching the Chickahominy, on the 20th 
of May, when he sent a brigade, under General B. N. Naglee, 
on a reconnaissance on the south side of the river to within 
two miles of the James River. On the i8th of June, he 
ordered transports with supplies, under convoy of gunboats, 
to be sent up the James River. When his line was attacked 
on the 26th, by troops belonging to Stonewall Jackson's corps, 
he sent the following dispatch to the quartermaster at the 
White House: 

"Run cars to the last moment, and load them with provisions 
and ammunition. Load every wagon you have with subsistence, 
and send them to Savage's Station by way of Bottom's Bridge. 
If you are obliged to abandon White House burn everything that 
you cannot get off. You must throw all supplies up the James 
River as soon as possible, and accompany them yourself with all 
your forces. It will be of vast importance to establish our depots 
on the James River without delay, if we abandon White House. 
I will keep you advised of every movement so long as the wires 
work; after that you must exercise your own judgment." 

During the battle of Gaines's Mill, which was fought 
the following day, June 27th, General Slocum was ordered 
to support General Porter and, on reporting, was directed 



I20 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

to place Taylor's and Newton's brigades as supports to 
the left of the line of battle. Bartlett's brigade was sent 
to the extreme right of the line of battle and reported to 
General Sykes. The march was a long one and all the way 
under fire, during which the casualties numbered fifteen. 
Bartlett rested his command, for fifteen minutes, under 
a ridge in the rear of Sykes' division, to enable the men to 
recover from the rapid march. When the Sixteenth was 
ordered forward to retake the line from which the regulars 
had been driven, its position was such that a change of front 
forward on the first company was necessary, and this move- 
ment was executed with precision in the face of a sharp 
musketry and artillery fire. After making this change, the 
regiment was advanced about one hundred and fifty yards to 
a fence, from which position the charge was made to recap- 
ture the section of Edwards's battery which the Twentieth 
North Carolina regiment had held for ten minutes, turn- 
ing one gun upon our advance. The artillerymen had 
worked their pieces most effectively until the enemy was 
among the guns; the last shot was fired by an ofl&cer sup- 
ported by two of his men, the infantry having previously 
retired. General Porter, twenty-five years after, in an 
article pubUshed in the Battles and Leaders of the Civil 
War^ referred to this incident as follows: 

"On the right, near McGehee's house, the enemy captured 
one of the batteries, which had been doing them great damage 
by enfilading their lines and preventing their advance. They 
gained thereby a temporary foothold by advancing some in- 
fantry; but, prompt to act, Sykes directed its recapture, and the 
Sixteenth New York, with arms shifted to the right shoulder, 
and moving at a double-quick, was soon in possession of the prize, 
which again renewed its fire." 



' Vol. II., page 339. 



Battle of Gaines's Mill 121 

Comte de Paris in his History of the Civil War in America,^ 
refers to the mortification felt by the regulars on account of 
the capture of these guns by volunteers, but of their recap- 
ture by volunteers he makes no mention. 

"Being thus attacked in front and menaced in flank by the 
enemy, who had taken possession of the wood of New Cold 
Harbor, Sykes falls back, defending the ground foot by foot. 
But a portion of his artillery, the teams of which have been killed, 
remains on the field of battle. The regulars do not allow Hill 
to push his success along the road leading from Cold Harbor to 
Dispatch, by which he could have cut off the retreat of the army. 
Fearfully reduced as they are, they care less for the losses they 
have sustained than for the mortification of yielding to volunteers," 

The Twentieth North Carolina accompHshed a most diffi- 
cult task in capturing Edwards's guns, for difficult it was to 
advance against Sykes' regulars, but not more difficult than 
that of recapturing the section after it had been ten minutes 
in the hands of the enemy, during which he had advanced 
his infantry to their support. Nearly three years later, I 
had occasion to test the stubbornness of North Carolina 
troops at Fort Fisher, and it is with admiration and respect 
that I speak of their daring, fortitude and valor. The quali- 
ties displayed by the men of North CaroHna on these fields, 
and on many others, recall the words of praise paid to their 
grandfathers by Lieutenant- Colonel Henry Lee, command- 
ant of the Partisan Legion, in his review of the battle of 
Camden, South Carolina, in the War of the Revolution, 
given in Lee's Memoirs ^ : — 

"None, without violence to the claims of honor and justice, can 
withhold applause from Colonel Dixon and his North Carolina 



' Vol. II., page 102. 
' Vol. I, page 185. 



122 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



regiment of militia, having their flank exposed by the flight 
of the other militia, they turned with disdain from the ignoble 
example, and fixing their eyes on the Marylanders, whose left 
they became, determined to vie in deeds of courage with their 
veteran comrades. Nor did they shrink from this daring resolve. 
In every vicissitude of the battle this regiment maintained its 
ground, and when the reserve under Smallwood, covering our 
left, relieved its naked flank, forced the enemy to fall back. 
Colonel Dixon had seen service, having commanded a Conti- 
nental regiment under Washington. By his precepts and ex- 
ample he infused his own spirit into the breasts of his troops, 
who, emulating the noble ardor of their leader, demonstrated 
the wisdom of selecting experienced officers to command raw 
soldiers." 

The following letter from a Confederate soldier written 
forty-two years after the battle will be of interest: — 

"Calypso, Duplin County, North Carolina, 

Dec. 21, 1904. 

"General N. M. Curtis, 

"Dear Sir: Your favor of the 17th instant came duly to hand 
and I would have answered it sooner; but have put myself to 
some trouble in order to give you some facts beyond my obser- 
vation, by conferring with some of my comrades who were in the 
battle, but have failed. So all I can do is to give you my ex- 
perience, and if that is worth anything to you, I am glad to be 
of some service to a historical cause. 

"We were marching in column when the battery opened on 
us with shells, then we made a right wheel to face it, then ad- 
vanced through a thicket to a fence that enclosed a field, and 
opened fire with our muskets. From there we were ordered to 
charge, and in order to reach the battery, we made an oblique 
movement to our left. The guns were located on the left, as we 
faced them, and in front of the house, near a road that ran in 
front of it. My position in line was at the intersection of the alley 
running from the house to the road, on the side nearer the guns. 
I saw our troops turn the guns, and then gave my attention 



Battle of Gaines's Mill 123 

to my front, and fired several shots about the house. The 
captured guns not firing, I looked in that direction and saw that 
they were abandoned, and, knowing there had been no forward 
movement on the part of our boys, I looked and saw our whole 
line had fallen back, and, the smoke having risen in my front 
and right, saw the enemy charge in a run towards the battery. 
They commanded me to halt, and, as I could not fly, I ran back 
and joined our lines at the charging point, at which position the 
regiment continued to fire. I was on the right of our regiment, 
but after you recaptured the guns, our left made a counter charge 
and recaptured the guns about sundown. I heard distinctly our 
fire, which was kept up near enough in front of me, to know 
the guns were again in our hands, and some of my comrades, 
whose testimony cannot be impeached, say they were in the last 
charge. I did not see the guns after my retreat, until the next 
morning, and on inquiry learned they were spiked by your men 
when they deserted them. 

"I remember seeing a great many straw hats on the field, and 
am under the impression that a large per cent, of the men who 
were charging toward us near the battery were bareheaded. 
They came near capturing me. I was not wounded. As I wrote 
you before, our company's loss in the engagement was twenty 
per cent, killed and permanently disabled. This loss shows the 
metal we had to contend against. On this, and more than thirty 
battle-fields, I have seen the valor displayed by the boys in blue. 

"As to our right, history teaches me that our fathers contributed 
their share of blood and treasure to leave me an inheritance, 
which it was my duty to defend; as to our valor, besides the 
killed, the million on the pension roll of the Union army is his- 
tory you are writing every day. Our fathers, who made it pos- 
sible for the American colonists to succeed, made Washington a 
patriot. Our defeat for the same cause makes us rebels, and 
Davis a traitor. 

"Yours truly 

"E. Faison Hicks, 
"Private Company E, Twentieth North Carolina, C. S. A." 



124 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

The Sixteenth held a position one hundred yards or more 
in advance of the recaptured guns for more than an hour, 
during which time the guns might have been withdrawn if 
prolonges had been at hand; as there were none, and the 
horses had been killed, the section fell a trophy to the enemy. 

Of the personal incidents which occurred on the field, the 
following are counted as well calculated to illustrate the con- 
duct of our men in and after the battle. When advancing 
on the enemy who was in possession of the guns which he 
had turned and was firing on our line, the colonel's order, 
not to fire until the regiment was within short range when 
he would give the word, was well observed, except by Solo- 
mon Burr, Company D, who ran a few paces in front of the 
line and, with deliberate aim, discharged his piece at a man 
who apparently was in the act of sighting one of the guns. 
It was a telhng shot and the man was seen to fall. It is 
believed that this shot killed Lieutenant-Colonel Faison. It 
was Burr's last, for, while reloading his musket, he was in- 
stantly killed by a ball which passed through his body and 
seriously wounded George Hill of the same company. 

Eliakim H. Sprague, a recruit aged forty-two years, stood 
in the ranks beside his son, Persho B. Sprague, nineteen 
years of age, who was one of the original members of the 
Sixteenth. Eliakim was almost the first to receive a mortal 
wound, and expired in the arms of his son. After closing 
his father's eyes, the son resumed his place on the firing line 
and faithfully discharged his duties in that regiment, and 
in a second enHstment, to the close of the war. 

Francis Grennon, when telling the fortunes of his com- 
rades the day before, had stated that he himself would fall 
in the next battle, and he was one of the first to be killed. 

Alpheus Cary was wounded in the arm, and when he 
reached the hospital, the chief surgeon ordered it ampu- 
tated; to this Cary objected, and a young surgeon took the 



Battle of Gaines's Mill 125 

case, and as a result Gary has carried the arm for forty-three 
years, and it is still a useful member. 

Joseph Perry, with the loss of his left eye, and shot through 
the right hip, using two muskets as crutches, walked two 
miles to a hospital before his wounds were dressed. 

WiUiam E. Gore by the aid of muskets as crutches, walked 
off the field, and later to Harrison's Landing. 

Amos H. Dean, shot through the arm and body, remained 
insensible on the field for some time. When he regained con- 
sciousness he retreated a short distance and was shot again. 
He crawled to a fence, and men of the Ninety-sixth Pennsyl- 
vania helped him over. Later, he was carried by the stretcher 
corps to the field hospital, thence to Savage's Station in an 
ambulance. There, with many other badly wounded men, he 
was left on the retreat, and was taken to Richmond and Belle 
Isle. None of his company had seen him after he fell and he 
was reported killed in action. His friends at home had assem- 
bled in their church for his funeral services, when the news 
came that he was in the hands of the enemy. After being 
exchanged, as he was unfit to perform military duty, he was 
discharged, and now lives in Lawrenceville, New York, a 
remarkable illustration of a man's capacity to survive in- 
juries called mortal, in cases where a vigorous constitution 
is supported by correct living. 

The brothers Ellsworth were both killed, Edmond in the 
company, and Corporal Edwin T. in the color guard, all of 
whom, with one exception, were killed or seriously wounded. 

Sergeant John Murray was standing in the rear of Andrew 
J. Broad well, as a file closer, when a musket ball passed 
through Broadwell's body, and destroyed Murray's musket; 
he took the musket from Broad well, who was unconscious, 
and carried it until mustered out. 

Gorporal William A. H. Lord was hit by a musket ball 
which ruined a gold watch and broke two of his ribs; the 



126 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

ribs, after a short time in hospital, continued to do duty, 
but the watch, unrepairable, rests in Fuller's Jewelry store 
in Malone, New York. 

Major's Seaver's report says: "Colonel Rowland, though 
wounded in the early part of the engagement, still kept his 
horse and continued to direct all the movements of the regi- 
ment and cheer on the men during all the fight, and con- 
ducted the regiment from the field." At this point, about 
six hundred paces in the rear of the advance firing hne, 
while the regiment was at ease, the colonel dismounted, and 
the incident occurred which is related by Mrs. Rowland in 
the Letters of a Family, from which I quote : — 

"When the battle of Gaines's Mill was all over and Joseph 
began to realize his own fatigue and wounded condition, he dis- 
mounted and lay down under a tree not far from the field, and 
presently fell asleep. He did not know how long he had slept, 
but it was dark when he was waked by something soft touching 
his cheek, and rousing himself he found it was his war horse, 
old Scott, rubbing his nose against his face. He had got loose 
from where he was tied and had looked for his master until he 
found him. Joseph was not ashamed to say that he cried like 
a child, as he put his arms around the dear old fellow's neck." 

"Old Scott" had carried Colonel Rowland on "to meet 
the armed men, was not affrighted, neither had he turned 
back from the sword," and had, throughout the battle, acted 
as a worthy descendant of his great progenitor, whom Job 
has so well described; and when the strife had ceased he 
lovingly sought his master, to bear him to his old camp. 
Such faithful devotion well deserved the evidence of appre- 
ciation which his master gave. 

General Fitz John Porter had resisted a strong force on 
the 26th, and on his new line of the 27th he had, until five 
o'clock in the afternoon, held back the forces of Generals 



Battle of Gaines's Mill 127 

Jackson, Longstreet, D. H. Hill, A. P. Hill, the Reserve 
Artillery, and Stuart's cavalry, consisting of twenty-eight 
brigades and forty-nine batteries, with his nine brigades and 
ten batteries, without surrendering more than a mile of his 
line. Notwithstanding his fearful loss of men, he was 
still in command of a resolute and unflinching corps, but he 
needed help to withstand the fierce assaults of the well- led 
and vahant forces so greatly out-numbering his own. Slo- 
cum's division came to his support, and, later, the brigades 
of French and Meagher, yet with this addition his forces 
hardly equalled one half of the enemy's. The character of 
the contest along the entire front is shown by the losses in 
Slocum's division in the two hours it was engaged. Porter's 
losses in this battle are combined with his losses from June 
25th to July 2nd inclusive. General Slocum says of his opera- 
tions and losses: 

"My division entered the field 8,000 strong; the killed, wounded 
and missing amount in the aggregate to 2,021. This list at- 
tests the devotion and heroism of officers and men. Notwith- 
standing the fearful loss, including as it does many of the bravest 
and best officers of the division, all the regiments left the field in 
good order and returned to their camps in the same compact and 
orderly manner that characterized their march to the scene of 
conflict." 

The casualties in Bartlett's brigade were 69 killed, 409 
wounded, and 68 missing, total 546. The Sixteenth New 
York took 25 officers and 485 enlisted men to the firing 
line; its casualties were 41 killed, 17 mortally wounded, 58 
wounded and discharged, 115 wounded and recovered, total 
231. A nominal list will be found in the Appendix, page 362. 

The battle of Gaines's Mill was the first one of the Civil 
War in which the aggregate losses on both sides equalled 
one-third of the forces engaged; the Confederate losses were 



128 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



the oreater in numbers, but of lower percentage than those 
of the Union troops. Among the officers on both sides were 
many, holding subordinate positions, who later came to 
the command of corps and of armies, and won the highest 
commendation for their military skill. 

This chapter, which recalls to the participants so many 
scenes of unselfish devotion, of unsurpassed valor, and of 
heroic fortitude, will be closed by a quotation from a for- 
eign oSicer in the service of the Confederates,^ who writes of 
the sadder side, the truth of which we might find it hard 
to beHeve, were it not for what we ourselves witnessed, nearly 
three months later, in caring for the wounded left on the 
battle-field of Antietam: 

"Our soldiers displayed a stoical disregard of death that placed 
them on an equal footing with veteran troops, for, despite the 
sanguinary harvest which death this day reaped in our ranks, 
no kind of disorder ensued, and it should be remembered that 
this fearless resolution was evinced not only by the more experi- 
enced portion of our troops, but by many regiments that had never 
been under fire before. It is, however, due to our opponents to 
admit that they sustained the shock of our incessant attacks 
with undaunted bravery. Although some of the brigades had 
been fighting from four o'clock till eight p.m., they had continued 
to stand firm, and it was only when they found, at the last named 
hour, Jackson was about to attack them in the rear, that they 
abandoned their positions. Although their loss must have been 
very severe they retired in good order, with drums beating and 
colors flying, taking their slightly wounded men and their bag- 
gage along with them; and, when hotly pressed in pursuit by 
Davis's and Wickham's cavabry regiments, they faced round and 
repulsed them. 

"Night now threw her sable veil over the field of slaughter; 
it seemed, indeed, as if nature was anxious to conceal from the 



' Colonel B. Estvan's War Pictures from the South, page 315- 



Battle of Gaines's Mill 129 

eyes of the living the harrowing spectacle of death's doings. 
Gradually, all had become still, save the faint echo of a distant 
cannonade on our left flank; but that too presently subsided. 
The majority of our soldiers, overcome by the exertions of so 
obstinate a contest, sank down helplessly upon the ground, to 
catch a little fitful rest. Although I was also so fatigued that I 
could scarcely keep my seat on horseback, nevertheless, accom- 
panied by one of my aides-de-camp, I rode to that part of the 
battle-field where the struggle had been the fiercest. The havoc 
of war that was here noticeable, even in the gloom of night, was 
fearful to contemplate. Whole ranks of the enemy's dead lay 
extended on the ground they had occupied at the outset of the 
battle. The number of wounded, too, was proportionately great, 
while their groans and cries for help were audible on all sides, 
and were truly heart-rending. In by-gone days I had been on 
many a battle-field in Italy and Hungary; but I confess that I 
never witnessed so hideous a picture of human slaughter and 
horrible suffering." 



CHAPTER XII 

FROM THE CHICKAHOMINY TO THE JAMES 

LATE Friday evening, June 27th, after the battle of 
Gaines's Mill, General McClellan called the corps 
commanders together and announced his purpose to trans- 
fer the army to the James River. He gave them maps 
indicating the roads on which they were severally to march, 
and designated the time and order of their departure. They 
were instructed to load their wagons with ammunition and 
provisions from the stores at Savage's Station. The Fourth 
and Fifth Corps were to march directly through to Malvern 
Hill, the Second, the Third, and the Sixth Corps were to 
follow the trains. The Second fought at Peach Orchard, 
later with Smith's division of the Sixth Corps at Savage's 
Station, and at White Oak Swamp; Slocum's division and 
the Third Corps fought at Glendale. 

All the wounded from the battle of Gaines's Mill had been 
brought to the general hospital at Savage's Station, which 
was near the field depot of supplies. Our ambulances had 
been sent to Harrison's Landing with as many wounded as 
could be placed in them. Colonel Howland and Colonel 
Pratt of the Thirty-first New York were carried in an ambu- 
lance sent from General McClellan's headquarters. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Marsh, whose wound was very painful, 
and whose sufferings were greatly increased by riding, was 
carried on a stretcher to the hospital boat at Harrison's 
Landing, by a detail of twelve men under the supervision of 
Chaplain Millar. 



Chickahominy to the James 131 

For want of transportation, about two thousand five 
hundred sick and wounded officers and men, with their at- 
tendants, were left at Savage's Station and fell into the hands 
of the enemy. Of this number, seventeen wounded, three 
sick and two nurses were members of the Sixteenth New 
York. One of them. Corporal Harris R. Durkee of Com- 
pany H, writes to me as follows : 

"The wounded at Savage's Station were captured by the enemy 
after the 29th. Most of them were in A tents pitched north of, 
and near, the railroad. The Confederates brought up their ar- 
tillery and opened on our troops stationed eighty rods south of 
the track; the wounded lay between the lines, with noses well 
down, for an hour or more, when the enemy sent cavalry and in- 
fantry to turn the left flank of our troops, but they were quickly 
repulsed. 

"We were held at Savage's Station until after the battle of 
Malvern Hill and then taken to Richmond. We of the Sixteenth 
New York, wearing straw hats, received special attention from 
the Confederate officers and men who fought against us, who said 
'We have great respect for the members of the "straw hat regi- 
ment," they were a brave and stubborn lot and inflicted severe 
punishment on us near the McGehee house.' David McAllister, 
Henry Sharp and myself were the only members of Company H 
left at Savage's Station. McAllister was not wounded, but was 
detailed by the surgeon to attend those who were. He contracted 
fever in prison and died in West Philadelphia hospital. We were 
exchanged about August ist." 

It is impossible to describe the feelings of such comrades, 
wounded in action and left to fall into the hands of the enemy; 
and most difficult to portray those of the unscathed, who 
are compelled to march on to new confficts without their 
old associates, when they attentively listen to the reading 
of the report of casualties, and soberly swallow the lumps 
which increasingly rise in their throats as the Hst runs "killed 



132 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

in action," "mortally wounded," "wounded and left on the 
field in the hands of the enemy." 

Brave men, who have unfalteringly approached belching 
cannon, driven away those who served them at the point of 
the bayonet, and laid their hands on the hot breech as proof 
of capture, have trembled with grief and turned away speech- 
less from the pleading countenances of those whom they have 
stood beside in battle, and now must leave to fall "into the 
hands of the enemy." It was indeed with sad feelings that 
the regiment marched away from the comrades left at 
Savage's Station. 

At sunrise on Saturday, the 28th of June, all of General 
McClellan's army was south of the Chickahominy. At 
2 P.M. Porter's corps began its march to the James River, fol- 
lowed by Keyes' corps, which held the left of the line near 
White Oak Swamp. Just before sundown, Hancock's 
brigade of Smith's division, holding the extreme right of our 
line, was vigorously attacked by artillery and infantry. 
Hancock held his ground, repulsed the enemy in a contest 
which darkness ended, that is called the action at Golding's 
or Gamett's farm. At 11 o'clock p.m., Slocum moved his 
division out of the works and marched to Savage's Station, 
where, in the early morning of the 29th, he received orders 
to cross White Oak Swamp and advance two miles on the 
Long Bridge Road. Later, he was followed by Heintzel- 
man's corps, and Smith's division of FrankHn's corps, to 
within half a mile of Savage's Station. General Meagher's 
brigade and the Fifteenth Massachusetts were sent to de- 
stroy the suppUes in the field depot at the Station, which 
could not be carried forward. General Sumner's corps left 
its works at daylight on the 29th, and while resting at Allen's 
farm or the Peach Orchard was, at 9 a.m., attacked by 
General Magruder, with probably the same force with which 
he later opened the battle at Savage's Station. At 11 o'clock. 



Chickahominy to the James 133 

General Sumner, having repulsed the enemy, resumed his 
march, and at 2 p.m. took position on ground selected by 
General FrankUn, on the east and south of Savage's Station. 
General Heintzelman in the meantime resumed his march 
to the James, but, before leaving, turned over to General 
Smith Osbom's Battery D, First New York, and Bram- 
hall's Sixth New York Battery. 

In this position, Sumner and FrankUn awaited the de- 
struction of the abandoned property and the passing of the 
trains. It was well chosen for a battle, should the enemy 
advance to interfere with the destruction of the public stores. 

The following account is given by Surgeon George T. 
Stevens, Seventy-seventh New York, in his Three years 
in the Sixth Corps: '^ 

"Again the division was formed in line of battle to protect our 
pioneers and the regiments which were engaged in the destruction 
of stores. The long railroad bridges across the river at this point 
had been burned. The work of destruction went on at a mar- 
velous rate. Boxes of hard bread, hundreds of barrels of flour, 
rice, sugar, coffee, salt and pork were thrown upon the burning 
piles and consigned to the flames. One heap of boxes of hard 
bread as large as a good-sized dwelling made part of the sacrifice 
and boxes of clothing and shoes were cast into the flames. 

'Tt was easy thus to dispose of the commissary and quarter- 
masters' stores, but to destroy the immense magazines of car- 
tridges, kegs of powder, and shells, required more care. These 
were loaded into cars; a long train was filled with the materials, and 
then after setting fire to each car, the train was set in motion down 
the steep grade. With wildest fury the blazing train rushed; 
each revolution of the wheels adding new impetus to the flying 
monster, and new volume to the flames. The distance to the 
bridge was two miles. On and on the burning train thundered 
like a frightful meteor. Now, the flames being communicated 

' Page 96. 



134 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

to the contents of the cars, terrific explosions of shells and 
kegs of powder lent new excitement to the scene. The air was 
full of shrieking, howling shells, the fragments of which tore 
through the trees and branches of the forest ; and huge fragments 
of cars were seen whirling high in the air. At length the train 
reached the river; and such was its momentum, that, notwith- 
standing the bridge was burned, the engine and first car leaped 
over the first pier into the stream, and the cars hung suspended." 



At 5 o'clock, an attack was made on the troops of Sumner 
and Franklin by General J. B. Magruder, with the brigades 
of Semmes and Kershaw, two regiments (the Seventeenth and 
the Eighteenth Mississippi, which the Sixteenth New York 
had met in their first battle. Bull Run, July 21, 1861) of 
Barksdale's brigade, Kemper's battery, two guns of Hart's 
battery and Lieutenant Berry's 32-pounder rifle gun mounted 
on a railroad car and protected by a covering of iron plates, 
through which port-holes had been cut. The enemy's 
artillery fire was very effective at first, but his guns were 
soon silenced by our batteries, Osbom's playing an impor- 
tant part in the work. Darkness closed the battle of Sav- 
age's Station; our troops held the ground and accompHshed 
the object for which they had halted. General Sumner re- 
garded the victory as so complete that he desired to make 
a stand and an advanced movement, but reluctantly resumed 
the march when specially informed that General McClellan 
knew of the engagement, and had directed that all the troops 
should cross White Oak Swamp that night. 

General E. M. Law, in the Southern Bivouac, May, 1887, 
says of this engagement: 

"The battle of Savage's Station, although a 'drawn fight' as 
far as the possession of the field was concerned, was practically 
a victory for the Federals. Though their loss was three times as 
great as that of the Confederates, they accomplished the main 



Chickahominy to the James 135 

purpose of the battle, which was to gain time for the passage of 
their trains, artillery, and troops across White Oak Swamp." 



General Smith's division marched at 8 o'clock p.m., 
crossed White Oak Swamp at three the next morning (June 
30th), and took position on the left of the road to support 
the batteries, then in position to contest the crossing by the 
enemy, who it was expected would follow Sumner's corps. 
At 10 A.M., Richardson's division and Hazzard's battery, 
the rear of Sumner's corps, crossed the bridge, and took posi- 
tion on the left of Smith's division. As soon as the troops 
had crossed, the bridge was taken up by the Engineer Battal- 
ion, under charge of Captain James C. Duane, United States 
Engineer Corps, loaded on wagons and moved on to high, 
cleared ground south of the Swamp, where the teamsters 
unhitched the mules and took them back to the Swamp to 
water them. About the time these teams reached the water, 
"Stonewall" Jackson opened upon our forces with thirty 
pieces of artillery. The troops immediately got under 
cover of the woods, suffering small loss, but the drivers and 
mules were thrown into great disorder. The mules ran 
through Meagher's brigade and disabled more men than 
were injured by the enemy's artillery. Captain Duane 
applied to General Franklin for a detail to destroy the four- 
teen wagons carrying pontoons, particularly the one carry- 
ing the valuable instruments of the Engineer Corps. This 
General Franklin declined to do, first, because their de- 
struction at that time would disclose to the enemy his pur- 
pose of abandoning the field; secondly, because the work 
was too hazardous to undertake, and, as the train had been 
left in the most exposed position by Duane's own men, he 
should use them to destroy it, or call for men to volunteer 
to do it, just before he should resume his march to the 
James. Captain Martin T. McMahon, aide-de-camp 



136 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

to the commanding general, serving on the stafif of General 
Franklin, volunteered to destroy the train whenever the 
general would allow it to be done. Permission to attempt 
its destruction was granted late in the afternoon, when 
Captain McMahon applied to General Brooks, command- 
ing the Vermont brigade, for a detail with axes, and was 
sent to Colonel Lewis A. Grant, commanding the Fifth 
Vermont, now Brevet Major-General Grant, who detailed 
his Pioneer Corps. After laboring ineffectually for some 
time to break up the boats, Captain McMahon kindled 
fires under each wagon loaded with pontoons, and after 
the fires were well started he turned his attention to the 
most valuable wagon in the train, the one on which were 
loaded the engineers' instruments. Just as he did so, 
three mules came to him for protection, as many domestic 
animals and some wild ones have been known to approach 
man, when overcome with fear. McMahon ordered these 
mules to be hitched to the Engineers' wagon and directed 
his orderly to deliver it to the first officer he should find 
with the train, then well on its way to the James. Then 
the captain took a bag of oats from one of the pontoon- 
wagons and carried it before him on his horse to head- 
quarters, and there he caused the oats to be doled out by 
hatfulls to his brother staff officers for their horses, which had 
eaten no grain for many days. 

General Franklin, in his article in The Battles and Leaders 
entitled "Rear Guard Fighting during the Change of Base," 
referring to this incident, says: 

"It was a plucky thing to do, for the train was under the guns 
of the enemy, who knew its value as well as we did, and the pre- 
sumption was that he would open his guns on it." 

Captain McMahon and the Vermont Pioneers returned 
safely to their station, and, years after, when Redfield 



Chickahominy to the James 137 

Proctor, then Major of the Fifth Vermont, was Secretary 
of War in the Administration of President Harrison, and 
General Lewis A. Grant was Assistant- Secretary of War 
under Secretary Proctor, there was sent to the captain 
who destroyed the pontoon train and saved the Engineers' 
wagon, now Brevet Major-General Martin T. McMahon, 
a Congressional Medal of Honor, inscribed 

"For voluntarily rescuing a valuable train that had been aban- 
doned and was covered by the enemy's fire. White Oak Swamp, 
Virginia, June 30, 1862." 



A sad accident occurred during the battle, resulting from 
a regard for personal property to which the owner exhib- 
ited an attachment which no danger could break. An old 
man, at whose house General W. F. Smith established his 
headquarters, when he saw our batteries go into position 
and the infantry moved to their support, walked up to the 
general and asked: "Do you think there will be a battle?" 
"I certainly do," he repHed. "How soon will it commence ?" 
asked the old man. "Probably in less than an hour," was 
General Smith's reply. "In that case I will carry my wife 
and baby to my brother's house a mile away, and come, back 
before the battle opens." When cautioned not to return 
until the battle was over he said, "I fear if I do not come 
back your Yankee soldiers will take all my poultry." He 
returned about the time that Jackson's shells broke over our 
lines, was hit by a piece of one of them and soon died, 
expressing with his last words his dominating fear, "that 
the Yankees would carry off all his ducks and chickens." 

The battle of Glendale was fought on the 30th day of June, 
by Heintzelman's corps and Slocum's division. It was 
necessary that our troops should hold this position to enable 
the trains to reach the James River, and its defence was 



138 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

mainly the work of Upton's, Porter's, De Russey's and 
Randolph's batteries, which were most admirably served. 
A section of Hexamer's battery was badly served, for many 
of its shells injured our own men. It was soon silenced 
by General Slocum's order. The casualties in the Sixteenth 
were two killed, seven wounded, and two captured on the 
picket line at night. 

Eland A. Woodruff survived his wound half an hour; as 
he was carried to the rear, he said, " Good Bye, boys, I can't 
be with you any longer." Another of Woodruff's comrades, 
when hit with a piece of a shell, concluded that it was a mor- 
tal blow, and went to the rear saying, "Tell my friends 
that I die with my face to the enemy." He now lives in 
Virginia and has ample facilities to make his exit in the 
manner then suggested, barring the simple fact that war- 
time enemies are now good friends. 

Harper^s Weekly, of August 9, 1862, has a double-paged 
picture of the battle of Charles City Road, or Glendale; 
and in the article describing the engagement says this of 
the Sixteenth New York : 

"On the left the veteran Sixteenth New York, in white straw 
hats so kindly presented to them by the colonel's thoughtful wife, 
— that Sixteenth whose record was of only twelve missing to 
228 killed and wounded, — a proportion far below the average of 
most other regiments, were lying down for better protection; 
and on the right was another good regiment, the Twenty-seventh 
New York." 

This refers to the location of the regiment in the forenoon. 
After dark, the regiments of Bartlett's brigade were ordered 
forward of the position occupied by the artillery, as shovrn 
in the picture in Harper^s, and were holding it at the time 
when General Slocum reported his command as "having 
expended nearly all of our ammunition and being entirely 



Chickahominy to the James 139 

destitute of rations." The artillery had retired before the 
infantry regiments of Slocum's division were withdrawn in 
the manner so well described by Adjutant Bicknell, the his- 
torian of the Fifth Maine ^ : 

"About one o'clock at night, upon the assurance of our general 
that that place was no place for his boys, the men were aroused 
from their slumbers, and bid be ready to move. Wearied and 
tired, even amid the dangers which surrounded them, the great 
majority of the men were glad, even then, to get one hour of quiet 
rest. Strict orders were issued that no noise should be made; 
and, upon the march, orders were transmitted from one officer 
to another in a low whisper. It seems that there was an aper- 
ture of a thousand yards in the rebel lines which had been dis- 
covered, and through that, under cover of darkness, we proposed 
to escape. The utmost caution was required that the move- 
ment should not be revealed to the watchful enemy. Every- 
thing which would make the slightest noise was ordered to be 
tightly secured or thrown away. Death was the penalty of speak- 
ing aloud, or striking a match. The march commenced. Every 
bush seemed to us to be a watchful Southern sentinel. Upon 
either side of the route a slight skirmish was kept up between 
the pickets to deceive the enemy. As we moved on, we soon 
passed the battle-fields of the day previous. What if now we 
should be discovered ? But no, on we go in safety. The camp- 
fires of the rebels shone brightly but a short distance from our 
route. General Kearny rides along as we pass the most danger- 
ous points. 'Move on steady, boys,' whispered the General as 
we passed, 'but if the hounds tread on your heels, kick.' Aye, 
thought we, surely we will. Yet almost perfect silence reigned. 
The following morning found us well upon the road, the enemy 
in our rear, and Slocum's little band, for the most part, safe. 
I should here note that there were some few of our men, who, 
in the haste of the moment were overlooked, and hence not awak- 
ened. Being taken prisoners by the rebels in the morning, after 

' Page 114. 



I40 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

a short confinement they were liberated. They reported, that, 
in the morning following our escape, the enemy sent a flag of 
truce to demand our surrender, supposing it impossible for us 
to escape; and they were very much taken by surprise to find 
that their bird had flown. By sunrise, after a cool and easy 
march, we were on the summit of Malvern Hill. Here we found 
almost the entire army in line of battle, and the mouths of hun- 
dreds of cannon pointing to the enemy's land." 



Osbom's battery came through on the change of base, 
fighting at Peach Orchard, Savage's Station, White Oak 
Swamp; marching with the rear guard in order for quick 
action, with the caissons leading the guns; and taking 
prominent part in winning the victory at Malvern Hill. 
Bartlett's brigade went to work building breastworks and 
constructing abatis. The sixteenth were under arms during 
the progress of the action, but were rather witnesses of, than 
participants in the battle of Malvern Hill on July ist. As 
the day advanced victory for our arms seemed to be assured, 
and our men lay down weary and hungry to get a few hours 
of much needed sleep. 

No attempt will be made to trace the movements of the 
Fourth and the Fifth Corps on their uninterrupted march 
to the James. The several corps reached their designated 
positions on the river, between an early hour on June 30th 
and sunrise of July ist, and in the afternoon, at Malvern 
Hill, was fought the last of the seven days' battles, a series 
of engagements which may be regarded as among the most 
memorable operations recorded in the annals of war. In 
the change of base every organization of the army came 
through intact, and, at 4 p.m. on June 30th, all the trains 
and a herd of twenty-five hundred beef cattle were parked 
and corralled on the banks of the James. 



Chickahominy to the James 141 

General McClellan closes a review of these days and 
operations in his Own Story, as follows: 

"During the Seven Days the Army of the Potomac consisted 
of 143 regiments of infantry, 55 batteries, and less than 8 regi- 
ments of cavalry all told. The opposing Confederate army 
consisted of 187 regiments of infantry, 79 batteries, and 14 regi- 
ments of cavalry. The losses of the two armies from June 25th 
to July 2nd were: — 

Killed Wounded Missing Total 

Confederate Army 2,823 ^S'T^S 3.223 I9>749 

Army of the Potomac i)734 8,062 6,053 15.849 

''The Confederate losses in killed and wounded alone were 
greater than the total losses of the Army of the Potomac in killed, 
wounded and missing. 

"No praise can be too great for the officers and men who passed 
through these seven days of battle, enduring fatigue without a 
murmur, successfully meeting and repelling every attack made 
upon them, always in the right place at the right time, and emerg- 
ing from the fiery ordeal a compact army of veterans, equal to 
any task that brave and disciplined men can be called upon to 
undertake. They needed now only a few days of well-earned 
repose, a renewal of ammunition and supplies, and reinforcements 
to fill the gaps made in their ranks by so many desperate encoun- 
ters, to be prepared to advance again, with entire confidence, to 
meet their worthy antagonists in other battles." 



CHAPTER XIII 



HARRISON'S LANDING 



THE leading brigade of Slocum's division left the right 
of the line at Malvern Hill at ii o'clock p.m., July 
ist, but the Sixteenth did not move until 2 A.M. of the 2nd, 
starting in a heavy rainstorm, and marching on bad roads 
through deep mud until 2 o'clock p.m., when it went into 
camp in a large wheatfield, and, after drawing a scant sup- 
ply of rations and half a gill of whiskey per man, lay 
down in wet clothes on muddy ground and slept until the 
morning of the 3rd. Awakened by heavy cannonading on 
the left, it formed line and stood in the mud until the 
afternoon, when it marched a mile to a good camping 
place, drew a full supply of rations, and lay down for a night 
of comfortable and undisturbed sleep, the first it had en- 
joyed for a week. On the morning of July 4th, it moved 
a short distance to a new camp well supplied with water, 
cleared off the brush, pitched tents, and turned out to 
celebrate the day, the gunboats and batteries firing the 
nat onal salute. 

The morning report of June 26th showed 32 officers and 
751 enlisted men present; the next morning report was made 
on July 4th, when 24 officers and 530 enlisted men were 
reported present, a difference in a week's fighting and march- 
ing of 8 officers and 221 enlisted men. 

Colonel Rowland, on arriving at Harrison's Landing, went 
on board a hospital boat, and proceeded to New York; 
Major Seaver reported to him in the following letter the 



Harrison's Landing 143 

movements of the regiment, from the battle of Gaines's 
Mill: 

"I improve the opportunity of sending you, by Hastings, the 
several company reports of the engagement of the 27th ult. We 
were under fire on Saturday the 28th, our pickets being driven 
in by a strong force. Shot and shell poured in right merrily 
from their fort in front of our new redoubt in the field we visited, 
but the men behaved well and did not leave till the pickets on 
our right were driven in, and four men wounded. On Monday 
June 30th, we were supporting a battery, with two of Hexamer's 
guns in our rear. The first shot they fired killed one man of 
Company F, and wounded two others; at another discharge Cap- 
tain Parker was wounded by a fragment of shell passing through 
both legs. The guns were not ten rods from us and must have 
been poorly served. They were silenced. 

"By the company reports, which I send you, you will readily 
ascertain our losses, which are considerable. 

"To-day the total number present is 524, for duty 506, in- 
cluding of course all extra and daily duty men. The men are 
feeling well and seem quite cheerful, although there is here and 
there a sad shade discernible in the faces of some. 

"I have heard to-day, with much sorrow, of the death of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Marsh. He has gone to his rest; God grant that 
his works, which were good, may follow him. A brave man has 
fallen. 

"I am only anxious that you shall keep your mind at rest, 
give your body repose and speedily recover your health, and in 
a short time be able to resume your duties here, where I know 
you will be welcomed as never man was welcomed before. 

"By advice with Colonel Bartlett he has detailed Captain 
Nevin acting Major. I hope it may not offend you. 

"My report of the 27th affair was done in haste under orders 
to furnish it, which I did, reserving you the privilege of with- 
drawing it and putting in one of your own, which I am sure you 
will prefer doing, as I much prefer to have you do. I send you 
a copy of the paper." 



144 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

General Slocum wrote Colonel Rowland from Harrison's 
Landing and said: "As to your conduct and that of your 
regiment on the 27th I hear but one opinion. All speak in 
terms of praise— the strongest terms; they fought like vet- 
erans." 

On the 5th of July, I rejoined the regiment from leave 
granted for wounds received on May 7th at West Point; 
reported for duty on the 6th, and went with the regiment on 
picket. 

Meeting General Franklin a day or two after my return 
he said, "You had a wound that was good for six months' 
leave, and I fear that you have made a mistake in coming 
back so soon; the surgeon tells me it needs dressing daily." 
I told him that my wound would heal as fast on the James 
as on the St. Lawrence; but I found out my error in less 
than a month, and the almost hourly reminder of my mili- 
tary life, during the last forty-four years, is largely due to 
the fact that I rejoined the army before I had completely 
recovered from the wounds received at West Point. 

President Lincoln visited the army on the 8th, and rode 
through the camps of the different corps with General 
McClellan and his staff, receiving most enthusiastic cheers 
from the soldiers, who had lost none of their confidence in, 
or affection for, their general and the commander-in-chief. 
It was here that General McClellan handed to the President 
his "Harrison Bar letter," probably the most unwise and 
unfortunate communication written by him in his mihtary 
life. Up to that time the President had been McClellan's 
best friend in the Administration, where he was supported 
by the Secretaries of State and of the Navy, but was bitterly 
opposed by the Secretaries of War and of the Treasury. 
Suggestions as to policy of administration are seldom 
well received from subordinates, unless directly requested, 
and, later, this letter was effectively used by the opposing 



Harrison's Landing 145 

secretaries and by their civilian friends in obtaining the 
order for General McClellan's removal from the command 
of the Army of the Potomac. 

Captain Franklin Palmer rejoined the regiment on the 
8th, from sick leave given at Tunstall's Station on the i8th 
of May. He showed marked signs of the severe fever he 
had contracted on the march to the Chickahominy, but en- 
tered upon his duties, and actively performed them until 
disabled by a severe wound, near the close of the last battle 
in which the regiment was engaged. 

General Franklin, about the middle of July, ordered an 
inspection of the several organizations of his corps. Captain 
Martin T. McMahon, Aide-de-Camp, inspected the Six- 
teenth, and after completing that of Company G he turned 
to me and said, "If you were to lie down in front of your 
company, you would outflank it at both ends." 

Colonel Rowland rejoined the regiment on the 24th of 
July, and remained till the 31st, when he left on sick leave, 
never to be with us again. He was visited at his tent by 
every officer and man of the regiment, to whom he gave a 
pleasant greeting, expressing his appreciation of their wel- 
come and his desire to rejoin them as soon as his physicians 
would consent. While in the camp, he recommended a 
list of promotions to fill the thirteen vacancies created by 
casualties in action, deaths from disease, and resignations. 
These included the promotion of Major Seaver to be Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel vice Marsh, and Captain Frank Palmer to 
be Major vice Seaver. He also gave directions for sending 
officers on recruiting service to fill up the regiment, and au- 
thorized the officers so detailed to offer twenty dollars to be 
paid to each recruit on joining the regiment, in addition to 
all Federal, State, and local bounties. 

During its stay at Harrison's Landing the regiment 
changed camp several times, and was daily engaged in 



146 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

building breastworks, picketing, and doing whatever would 
tend to make our position secure against the enemy 
under arms, and the greater enemy — malarial fever — against 
which fortitude and valor were ineffective. 

Captain W. R. Hopkins, Quartermaster of Slocum's di\d- 
sion, wrote to Colonel Rowland on August 3, 1862, as 
follows: 

. . . "At II P.M. July 31st, Wead (Lieutenant Sixteenth, and 
Aide-de-Camp on division staff) came to my tent and said I was 
wanted at headquarters' tent to drink the health of Major- General 
Slocum. It seemed like a dream to all of us, and perhaps as much 
so to General Slocum as to any. An orderly simply handed in 
an official letter, addressed to Major-General Henry W. Slocum, 
which contained a commission from the President. It is very 
flattering to General Slocum that his two previous appointments 
were as unexpectedly received. On Tuesday night, the 5th, we 
contemplate having a grand major-general's blow out." . . . 



General Slocum sent for me in the afternoon of the 5 th 
of August, and stated that there would be a gathering at his 
quarters that evening, and that he wished me to attend. 
"Come directly to my tent and go in with me," he said. I 
was not informed of his object in inviting me to a meeting 
which, I understood, was to be attended by general and field 
officers to celebrate, with appropriate banquet and toasts, 
his promotion as major-general. I went to the general's 
tent, however; he took my arm and proceeded to the large 
tent where a number of officers of his division and many 
general officers from other divisions received him with hearty 
cheers. Briefly acknowledging their greeting, he said, — 
"Gentlemen, I have the pleasure of introducing Colonel 
Curtis, who is to command one of the new regiments now 
being raised in New York under the President's call for three 



Harrison's Landing 147 

hundred thousand men." In acknowledging the welcome 
extended to me, I said, "It does not become me to dispute 
the words of my friend, General Slocum, but I am totally 
ignorant of any official action of the Governor of my State, 
authorizing me to assume the title of colonel." General 
Slocum said that he had been advised by a member of the 
military committee of the Senatorial District, appointed by 
Governor Morgan, that the committee had selected me to 
command the regiment which was being recruited in Ogdens- 
burg. This member was the Honorable William A. Wheeler, 
an old political and legislative associate of General Slocum, 
to whom he had, without consulting me, written, requesting 
him to procure for me the command of a regiment. No 
poHtical questions had ever been discussed by General 
Slocum and myself; hence he was unacquainted with the fact 
that I was a member of the Democratic party, and was 
equally uninformed as to the strong feeling on the part of 
certain leading Republicans in St. Lawrence County, against 
giving appointments or promotion to men of the Demo- 
cratic party; in their eyes, miUtary service, no matter how 
commendable, was not worthy of the slightest consideration, 
if political affiliations were unsatisfactory. These gentlemen 
were perfectly sincere and, what was more, were able to 
convince Governor Morgan that the political machinery of 
St. Lawrence County could not safely be interfered with by 
a candidate for the United States Senate, and, consequently, 
my name never appeared upon the roster of the One Hund- 
red and Sixth New York. 

The most exciting incident which occurred while we were 
at Harrison's Landing was the shelling of our camps at one 
o'clock A.M., August ist, by the batteries which the enemy 
had brought to the south side of the James. Preparations 
had been made to receive him, and our batteries and gun- 
boats soon sent him beyond the reach of our shot ; and while 



148 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

we remained on the river he carefully avoided getting within 
our range. 

On the 4th of August, General Hooker had a very spirited 
engagement with the enemy at Malvern Hill, and succeeded 
in occupying that position and in driving the Confederate 
forces four miles on the New Market road towards Rich- 
mond, capturing more than one hundred prisoners. In the 
afternoon, General Hooker received the following communi- 
cation from General McClellan : 

"Under advices I have received from Washington, I think it 
necessary for you to abandon the position to-night, getting every- 
thing away before dayhght." 

This order was sent after the receipt of the following from 
General Halleck, dated August 3, 1862, 7.45 p.m.: — 

"It is determined to withdraw your army from the Peninsula 
to Aquia Creek. You will take immediate measures to effect 
this, covering the movement the best you can. Its real object 
and withdrawal should be concealed even from your own 
ofl&cers." 



On the 6th of August, the regiment was paid; the few 
articles brought down by the sutler were held at such a high 
price, that the money left by the paymaster went a very short 
way in supplying the officers and men with the necessaries 
and luxuries they earnestly desired. On the 9th of August, 
under the provisions of General Orders No. 91, War De- 
partment, July 29, 1862, our regimental band was mustered 
out of service. An act of Congress directed the mustering 
out of all regimental bands, and thereafter only brigade 
bands were allowed. 

Following the orders of the 3rd of August to withdraw 
the army from the Peninsula, the transportation facilities 



Harrison's Landing 149 

had been greatly increased, and 12,500 sick and slightly 
wounded men were sent to Northern hospitals, the last de- 
parting the evening of the 17th. Five days before this I 
had been sent, with a number of other fever cases, to a newly 
established hospital at Point Lookout, Maryland. 

The report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of 
the War,^ gives the testimony of General Halleck, showing 
the source of the influence under which the President acted 
in ordering the withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac 
from the James River : — 

"In accordance with the direction of the President, I left here 
on the afternoon of the 24th (July) and reached the camp of 
General McClellan on the afternoon of the 25th. I stated to the 
general that the object of my visit was to ascertain from him his 
views and wishes in regard to future operations. He said that he 
proposed to cross the James River at that point, attack Peters- 
burg, and cut off the enemy's communication by that route south, 
making no fiurther demonstration for the present against Rich- 
mond. I stated to him frankly my views in regard to the danger 
and impracticability of the plan, to most of which he frankly 
agreed." 



General Halleck's views, as to the impracticability of 
operating from the James River as a base, were accepted 
by the President, and the orders of the 3rd of August were 
issued, withdrawing the Army of the Potomac from the 
James River. It may be well to recall some of the losses 
sustained by this noble army in the principal battles, fought 
after its departure from the James River, till its return 
under General Grant, twenty-two months later, to the base 
from which its final triumph was won. In Major- General 

' Pt. I, p. 454. 



150 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Pope's campaign, including the battles of Cedar Mountain and 
tiiose fought between August i6, and September 2, 1862; the 
Mar>iand campaign; the surrender of Maryland Heights, 
Harper's Ferry, and Bolivar Heights, September 12-15, 1862; 
Fredericksburg; Chancellorsville; the Gettysburg campaign; 
and Rapidan to the James River, there were 18,683 killed, 
95,223 wounded, and 46,244 missing, a total of 160,150 men, 
more than ten army corps, and twice the average number 
of men taken into the battles fought by the Army of the 
Potomac. This number was lost in action, and in addition 
large numbers by death from disease and exposure. These 
facts may well be considered in passing judgment on the 
generalship of one who opposed the plans of General 
McClellan, and the plan pursued by General Grant, operating 
from the true base on the James River in destroying the 
Army of Northern Virginia. It is stated that the battles of 
Cedar Mountain and the Second Bull Run should be counted 
with the unfruitful losses of the battles fought by the Army 
of the Potomac. This is done on the common-sense theory 
that General Pope's army should have been called back to 
the defences of Washington, when the Army of the Potomac 
was recalled from the Peninsula, so that they might have 
been united near the base of operation and been suitably 
supplied for an active campaign, instead of having been 
pushed forward to be overwhelmed by the superior force of 
the enemy, released from guarding its base on the retirement 
of the Army of the Potomac from the James River. There 
was not sufficient water transportation to carry the Army 
of the Potomac to Pope's support, operating where it was 
at the time the recall of the Army of the Potomac was or- 
dered. General Halleck was promptly advised of this want 
of transportation, and the delay in bringing the Army of 
the Potomac to Pope's field of operations, with its complete 
equipments to engage in battle, should be charged to the 



Harrison's Landing 151 

general-in-chief, Major-General H. W. Halleck. The 
armies of the Potomac and of Virginia, united on the James 
River, or at the defences of Washington, would have been in 
a condition to rei>el General Lee's advance, or to engage 
him in offensive operations. 



CHAPTER XIV 

LEAVING THE PENINSULA 

ON Saturday, the i6th of August, at 4 o'clock P.M., the 
Sixteenth New York left its camp at Harrison's 
Landing, and marched to Charles City Court House, where 
it bivouacked for the night ; on Sunday it crossed the Chick- 
ahominy, near its mouth, over the longest pontoon bridge 
which at that time had been laid for the passage of troops 
and army trains, and slept on the north side. On Monday, 
the 1 8th, the regiment marched through the City of Williams- 
burg, and encamped near the battle-field of May 5, 1862. 

Williamsburg, Virginia! What memories were awak- 
ened by its sight! This ancient city, incorporated in 1632, 
with a population which has never exceeded that of many 
of our modem villages, had been the scene of more impor- 
tant events in Colonial and Revolutionary times than any 
other town or city in the colonies. Here was founded, in 
1692, by royal charter, the second college in America, the 
College of William and Mary. On its rolls were to be placed 
the names of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, 
John Marshall, — in fact, all of the leading men of the South, 
who rendered conspicuous services in winning our National 
Independence and in establishing a government which has 
proved the most permanent and the best yet devised for the 
welfare and happiness of its citizens. Its students founded 
here the most important of all college societies, that of Phi 
Beta Kappa; the authority to organize a chapter of this 
society is considered proof of worth and creditable standing 



Leaving the Peninsula 153 

among the learned institutions of the country. William and 
Mary College was the first to teach that science which, as 
Burke said, "does more to quicken and invigorate the under- 
standing than all other kinds of learning put together," 
for here, under the professorship of George Wythe, was 
founded the first Department of Law in America. 

This city was the seat of Government from 1669 to 1779, 
and here was enacted one of the most noteworthy laws 
of the General Assembly of Virginia, that providing for the 
erection of an asylum for the care and treatment of the 
insane; this, the first State institution of that character in 
America, was opened in 1773, twenty years before the 
European asylums abandoned the use of hunger, chains and 
chastisements in the treatment of those with disordered 
minds. Twenty -five years earlier, the Quakers of Phila- 
delphia had set aside a single ward in a hospital for the care 
of this class of patients ; but credit for an institution specially 
devoted to this purpose is due to the wisely directed philan- 
thropy of those distinguished Virginians who were first to 
move in this benevolent enterprise, as they were among the 
earliest champions of the Revolutionary cause. 

The Raleigh Tavern was the most important of the unoffi- 
cial institutions of the city; there, legislative committees met, 
and conferences were held to discuss great affairs of State. 
In this famous hostelry, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, 
Francis Lightfoot Lee, Dabney Carr, and Thomas Jefferson 
met for consultation as to the best means to procure unity of 
action among the colonies, and drew up the Resolutions 
which were adopted on the 12th of March, 1773, by the 
General Assembly, providing for the appointment of "a 
standing Committee of Correspondence and Inquiry," to 
correspond with committees appointed by other colonies 
on matters relating to their common welfare. This was 
the first legislative action which put into execution a measure 



ir4 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

which directly led to the call for the first Continental Con- 
gress, which met in Philadelphia, on the 4th day of Sep- 
tember, 1774. In this body, Richard Henry Lee presented 
the resolution of the General Convention of Virginia, adopted 
on the 15th day of May, 1776, "to declare the United Col- 
onies free and independent states;" this resolution was the 
natural sequence and consummation of the work begun by 
the Raleigh Tavern committee of 1773. 

In this tavern, at different dates, two young men were 
quartered when they came to WilHamsburg to pay court to 
the objects of their early affection. The first was a young 
surveyor, asking permission to address the beautiful and 
rich Miss Mary Cary. He received from her father the 
chilling reply, "If that is your business here, sir, I wish you 
to leave the house, for my daughter has been accustomed to 
ride in her own coach." It is one of the traditions of the 
old town that, when General Washington marched through 
Williamsburg at the head of the army, on his way to capture 
Comwallis at Yorktown, he filed off the Duke of Gloucester 
Street into Woodpecker Street, that he might march by the 
house which he had left in a state of dejection, thirty years 
before. 

The young lawyer who wrote the immortal Declaration 
of Independence returned to his room in the Raleigh after 
a similar rebuff from Miss Rebecca Burwell. These two 
ladies were afterward led to the altar by the brothers Ambler. 
Like Washington, Jefferson, in good time, found consola- 
tion in the charms of a widow and married Mrs. Skelton of 
Virginia. Both were rich and beautiful, and each was sought 
by numerous suitors. Washington won by his military 
bearing and by the glory gained in the colonial wars; Jeffer- 
son brought to his aid his skill in accompanying the lady's 
harpsichord with his voice and violin. 

Marching to Yorktown, our regiment bivouacked near 



Leaving the Peninsula 155 

the field on which General Comwallis's army had surren- 
dered to General Washington, after having been besieged 
by the American Army and its French allies under General 
Lafayette, from September 30th to October 19, 1781. Sev- 
eral historians, who have written of this important event 
in our Revolutionary struggle, have noted an interesting 
incident connected with the surrender of the British flags. 
After the British troops had grounded their arms, twenty- 
eight officers brought forward their colors,^ to surrender 
them to the representatives of the American Army, but when 
these officers found that they were confronted by a like num- 
ber of sergeants, they hesitated and stood motionless with 
their encased colors. Colonel Alexander Hamilton, Acting 
Adjutant- General on the staff of General Lincoln, rode 
down the line to ascertain the cause of the delay; he was 
informed by the British officers that they were unwilling 
to submit to the humiliation of surrendering their colors 
to enlisted men, and asked to be permitted to place them 
in the hands of commissioned officers. Colonel Hamilton 
returned to Generals Lincoln and Washington, and reported 
the wishes and feelings of the British officers; General Wash- 
ington then ordered that the junior officer, in years and com- 
mission, in the American army should be detailed to receive 
the colors and hand them to the sergeants. Ensign Robert 
Wilson of the New York Line, eighteen years of age, in com- 
pliance with this order of Washington, passed down the line 
in front of the officers and transferred their colors to the 
hands of the sergeants. 

After the arrival of Bartlett's brigade on their camping- 
ground, Adjutant Robert P. Wilson of the Sixteenth New 
York, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General on the brigade 
staff, invited Colonel Bartlett and other officers of the brigade 



* Now in the library of the Military Academy at West Point. 



156 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

to walk out on the field where his grandfather, on the 19th 
day of October, 1781, had mitigated the grief of his Majesty's 
officers, by transferring twenty-eight of their flags to the 
hands of the American sergeants. 

It is worth remembering, that, as a result of the Revolu- 
tionary War and of the War of 181 2, this nation has, stored 
among her military trophies, more British flags than can be 
found in any country outside of the British dominion; and 
that, furled or floating, the flag that 

"has braved, a thousand years, 
The battle and the breeze," 

is looked upon by Americans with a respect and consideration, 
second only to that which they feel for the Star Spangled 
Banner. 

On the next day, the regiment marched to Warwick Court 
House, and thence to Newport News, and boarding the 
steamer there, it arrived on the 24th of August at Alexandria, 
and bivouacked near its first camp in Virginia. The Six- 
teenth New York had left Alexandria, for the Peninsula, 
with 820 officers and men; it returned in three months and 
four days, with 430 officers and men present for duty, having 
had 70 killed in action, 65 totally disabled by wounds, and 
255 wounded and sick in general hospital. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC BROKEN UP 

PORTER'S corps arrived at Aquia Creek on the 21st of 
August; the next day it went by rail to Falmouth, 
marched to Deep Creek and thence to join Pope's army. 
Heintzehnan's corps landed at Alexandria on the 22nd, 
and proceeded by rail to join Pope near Warrenton 
Junction. On the 24th, General McClellan reached Aquia 
Creek, reported to General Halleck, and, on the 26th, was 
directed to leave Burnside in charge at that place and go 
to Alexandria, where, under orders from the general-in- 
chief, he forwarded to General Pope the troops of the Army 
of the Potomac as they arrived. The infantry of Franklin's 
corps landed at Alexandria on the 24th, and on the 27th 
Taylor's brigade of Slocum's division went by rail to Bull 
Run Bridge. The brigade crossed the bridge, marched 
about two miles on the Manassas Plains, and met a strong 
force of cavalry, artillery and infantry under General Fitz- 
hugh Lee, who used his artillery with such effect that he 
drove the brigade back across the bridge, and inflicted a 
heavy loss, including the mortal wounding of its commander, 
Brigadier-General George W. Taylor. General Halleck 
was without information as to the location of Pope's forces 
or those of the enemy, and this uncertainty made him the 
more insistent that all of Franklin's corps should be pushed 
forward, without waiting for his artillery or small arms 
ammunition in excess of the forty rounds carried by the men. 
The sad experience gained by sending Taylor without 



158 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

artiller)' caused General McClellan to retain the remainder 
of Franklin's corps until the 29th, and then under great pres- 
sure from the general-in- chief it marched to Annandale and 
bivouacked for the night. By unloading twenty wagons of 
Banks's supply train, and filling them with ammunition 
in Alexandria, Franklin obtained sufficient ammunition to 
enable him to march, at 6 a.m., on the 30th, to meet the 
enemy, although insufficiently supplied with artillery. 

The corps passed through Fairfax and Centre^^lle and halted 
near the Bull Run battle-field of 1861, having marched 
twenty miles in a broihng sun. The sound of artillery was 
first heard as we approached Fairfax, and at Centreville 
we met wounded men. Their reports produced alternat- 
ing feelings, for while one would encourage the hope of vic- 
tory for our side, another w^ould depress us with fears of 
defeat on that field where victory would be sweeter and 
defeat more bitter than on any field where we had con- 
tended. These reports caused the officers and men of the 
Sixteenth New York, fatigued as they were, to wish for an 
order to advance to the support of our friends in the front, 
but we received an order to move into a field on the right of 
the road and eat our supper. Before the fires newly Ughted 
to make our cofi'ee had warmed the water in our cups, the 
brigade was ordered to reform, two regiments on each 
side of the road, and directed to permit no man to pass our 
line. No troops were in sight on our front when we received 
this order, but in a short time a large number of wounded 
men and stragglers bore down upon us. The stampede 
was not so serious as at first appeared, but we soon stopped 
enough men, not wounded, to more than double our regi- 
mental lines. At dark, Bartlett's brigade moved back half 
a mile, formed line of battle and lay on its arms through 
the night. In the meantime Pope's army was retiring toward 
Centreville. 



The Army of the Potomac 159 

Early on Sunday morning, August 31st, the brigade crossed 
Cub Run, and Company B and the Pioneer Corps of the 
Sixteenth New York destroyed the bridge, under the direc- 
tion of Lieutenant R. C. Shannon, Fifth Maine, aide on 
the staff of General Slocum. At this same bridge, on July 
21, 1861, the 32-pounder, called by the boys "Long Tom," 
had been captured. This was remembered by the members 
of the Sixteenth, as the gun which had been stalled in the 
road before daylight, when the regiment had filed out and 
marched by it on our way to the left of McDowell's line at 
the Grigsby House. Afterwards, this gun had been moved 
toward the right of the line of battle, and fallen a trophy to 
the enemy. Late in the afternoon, Slocum's division fell 
back to Centreville. 

While the Sixth Corps was awaiting developments at 
Centreville on the afternoon of Monday, the ist day of Sep- 
tember, an incident occurred which will interest those who 
knew one of the ablest of our generals, and one of the most 
popular officers connected with the troops composing the 
Sixth Corps, and the army as well. On the organization of 
Franklin's division in October, 1861, General Kearny com- 
manded the First Brigade. Later, he was promoted to the 
command of a division which, on the organization of corps, 
became a part of the Third Corps; but whether in the Sixth, 
or in another corps, he was always kindly remembered by 
the soldiers of the First Division. 

A body of troops marched down the road in an orderly 
and soldierly manner, appearing so different from others we 
had seen come from the front that great interest was awak- 
ened in them, and the soldiers of Slocum's division. Sixth 
Corps, rushed to the side of the road along which they were 
marching and called out, "What troops are these?" They 
answered "Kearny's division, Third Corps, Army of the 
Potomac," in a tone and spirit indicating their pride and 



i6o Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

satisfaction in belonging to an army which no one of its 
members ever mentioned without feelings of exultation, a 
corps which enjoyed the respect and confidence of its asso- 
ciates and commanders, and a division led by one of the 
ablest and most popular officers in the army. Hearty cheers 
were given them, and when Major-General Kearny ap- 
proached, riding in rear of his column, he was greeted most 
enthusiastically and given a welcome which was sponta- 
neous and exceptionally warm. 

The following extract is from the diary of Lieutenant 
R. C. Shannon, Fifth Maine, an aide on General Slocum's 
staff; later, heutenant-colonel, and assistant adjutant- 
general, U. S. v.: 

" General's Kearny's last day was perhaps the proudest. When 
he rode with a few orderlies along Centreville Heights, what a 
splendid ovation he received from the troops without regard to 
division or corps! They rushed from all sides and greeted him 
with the wildest huzzas. Three hours after, he had ridden 
boldly to his death." 

He was marching to a new position. While inspecting 
his lines, in a rain storm and in the shades of evening, he 
rode unconsciously into the enemy's lines. General Long- 
street, in front of whose line he was killed, relates, in his 
book From Manassas to Appomattox,^ the circumstances 
attending his death: 

"While my reliefs were going around, General Philip Kearny 
rode to my line in search of his division. Finding himself in the 
presence of Confederates he turned his horse and put spurs, 
preferring the danger of musket-balls to humiliating surrender. 
Several challenges called, but not heeded, were followed by the 

* Page 194. 



The Army of the Potomac i6i 

ring of half a dozen muskets, when he fell mortally hurt, 
and so perished one of the most gallant and daring of the Union 
generals." 

General Fitzhugh Lee, in his Life of General Robert E. Lee,^ 
refers to the death of General Kearny as follows : 

"The loss on both sides was heavy, the Federals losing two of 
their best generals, Kearny and Stevens. The former was a 
dashing officer of undoubted courage and great merit. Had he 
lived he might have been an army commander. He rode into 
the Confederate lines, thinking they were occupied by a portion 
of his troops. It was nearly dark and raining. Seeing his mis- 
take, he whirled his horse around, threw himself forward in the 
saddle, Indian fashion, and attempted to escape. A few men 
close to him fired, and he fell from his horse. General Lee had 
his body returned to the Federal lines the next day, with a cour- 
teous note to Pope." 

General Lee's letter read as follows : 

^' Major General John Pope: — 

"Sir: — The body of General Kearny was brought from the 
field last night, and he was dead. I send it forward under a flag 
of truce, thinking the possession of his remains may be a consola- 
tion to his family. R. E. Lee, General." 

Major George P. Hawkes, 21st Massachusetts, later 
brigadier-general, states, in a letter to his brother written 
three days after, when a paroled prisoner of war, that he had 
himself reached the enemy's lines but a moment before 
General Kearny rode up to his side and asked, "Captain, 
which troops are these? I'm looking for my command." 
The Major repKed, " General Kearny, that is a Confederate 
line, and we are both securely in their power. It is sure 

^'Page 195. 



i62 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

death to attempt to escape; please, sir, do not attempt an 
escape, both for your own and the country's sake." Kearny 
said, looking about him, "I've a good horse here, and 
can depend on him every time; he'll carry me through." 
As he turned his horse the Confederate officer called out, 
"You are crazy, man. You can't get ten feet. Don't be 
foolish." General Kearny muttered, "They couldn't hit 
a barn." 

Philip Kearny, the father of General Kearny, purchased, 
in 1796, ten thousand acres of land, situated on the west 
side of St. Lawrence County, running from the river south 
twenty miles. This tract has been subdivided and is now 
owned by prosperous farmers in Hammond, Rossie and 
Gouverneur. The places retaining the name of the original 
proprietor are the Kearny Iron Ore Bed, and the Kearny 
Bridge over the Oswegatchie River, near the site of the elder 
Kearny's summer cottage. General Kearny, from his boy- 
hood to the beginning of the Civil War, came nearly every 
summer to this section, and was warmly received by the 
early settlers on farms purchased from his father. Later in 
life, he was welcomed at the famous hostelry kept by Peter 
Van Buren, and extended to his friends kindly greetings 
and the best of cheer. 

Young Kearny, in his early visits to Northern New York, 
delighted to ride the spirited and unbroken colts he found 
there, the descendants of Ogden's "Messenger," one of the 
most distinguished sons of "Imported Messenger," which 
was the most valuable and impressive sire ever brought to 
America. Kearny's dare-devil riding over the corduroy 
roads of those early days was a subject of serious concern 
to the elderly women, and, when he was heard coming along 
the roads at breakneck speed, the doors would be filled 
with the frightened dames, prophesying with uplifted hands 
that the boy Kearny would never die in bed, but be killed 



The Army of the Potomac 163 

by reckless riding. His biographer, General J. Watts de 
Peyster, gives in his Personal and Military History 0} Philip 
Kearny^ the following account of one of his early exploits, 
which doubtless occurred on the long causeway in the town 
of Rossie. 

"When a boy, young Phil Kearny was a reckless rider and a 
perfect horse-killer. He rode just as fearlessly over the worst 
as over the best roads. Upon one occasion, often adverted to 
in the family, while quite a little chap, eight or nine years old, 
he frightened his father almost to death, galloping his horse furi- 
ously for miles over an old corduroy road full of holes and in- 
equalities. It must have been an extraordinary feat and escape, 
since it was often referred to by men who were too bold riders 
themselves to dwell upon anything which was not something as- 
tonishing in its display of daring." 

When the circumstances of his death became known in 
St. Lawrence County, the older persons, who had known 
him in his youth, recalled the prophecy of that period and 
its double fulfilment, for, mounted at the head of his troops 
in Mexico, he lost an arm, and, riding before his division 
at Ox Hill, near Chantilly, Virginia, he fell from his horse 
pierced by an enemy's bullet, the victim of a valor which 
through hfe was unsurpassed. 

Frank Johnson, a lad in 1859, was an employee in Van 
Buren's Hotel when Major Kearny sojourned there for sev- 
eral days, and frequently aided the major in putting on his 
glove, for which he received thanks and the kindly wish that, 
"you may never lose an arm; it is inconvenient not to be 
able to put on a glove." This boy, still in his teens, volun- 
teered in the One Hundred and Forty-second New York, 
and in the intrenchments in front of Petersburg had his left 

' Page 31. 



1 64 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

arm shattered by an enemy's bullet, and when he came from 
the operating table said, "Well, the good wishes of General 
Kearny did not save my arm," It is evident that Johnson 
has never regretted that he went to the war; and it is possible 
that his own misfortunes have caused him to take a greater 
interest in the welfare of the soldiers and their dependents, 
for certain it is that no one in St. Lawrence County has 
labored more faithfully for the veterans than this comrade, 
during the more than forty years that he has worn an empty 
sleeve. 

At 5 P.M. the first day of September, it commenced rain- 
ing and continued long enough to convert the five or six 
inches of dust we had marched through into thin mud, 
making the walking so difiicult that we were from dark until 
daylight in marching six miles to Fairfax. Late in the after- 
noon we resumed our march and went into camp near 
Alexandria, at lo p.m. 

Following Franklin's corps, Sumner's corps, a part of 
Gregg's cavalry and Couch's division landed in Alexandria, 
and were sent to the front of the fortifications about Wash- 
ington, without reserve ammunition, carrying only as many 
rounds as their cartridge-boxes would hold. On the 30th, 
General McClellan reported to th,e general-in-chief, "You 
now have every man of the Army of the Potomac who is 
within my reach." On the same day, the War Department 
announced, in Orders, the commanders of the armies oper- 
ating in Virginia : 

"General Burnside commands his own corps, except those 
which have been temporarily detached and assigned to General 
Pope. 

"General McClellan commands the Army of the Potomac that 
has not been sent forward to General Pope. 

"General Pope commands the Army of Virginia and all the 
forces temporarily attached to it. 



The Army of the Potomac 165 

"All the forces are under the command of Major-General 
Halleck, General-in-chief." 

Late in the evening of the 30th, General McClellan tele- 
graphed General Halleck : 

"I have sent to the front all my troops, with the exception of 
Couch's division, and have given the orders necessary to insure 
its being disposed of as you directed. I hourly expect the return 
of one of my aides, who will give authentic news from the field 
of battle. 

"I cannot express to you the pain and mortification I have ex- 
perienced to-day in listening to the distant sound of the firing of 
my men. As I can be of no further use here, I respectfully ask 
that, if there is a probability of the conflict being renewed to- 
morrow, I may be permitted to go to the scene of battle with 
my staff, merely to be with my own men, if nothing more ; they will 
fight none the worse for my being with them. If it is not deemed 
best to entrust me with the command even of my own army, I 
simply ask to be permitted to share their fate on the field of battle. 
Please reply to this to-night. 

"I have been engaged for the last few hours in doing what I 
can to make arrangements for the wounded. I have started out 
all the ambulances now landed. 

"As I have sent my escort to the front, I would be glad to take 
some of Gregg's cavalry with me, if allowed to go." 

Twenty-four hours later General Halleck telegraphed 
McClellan: 

"I beg of you to assist me in this crisis with yoiu: ability and 
experience. I am entirely tired out." 

To this McClellan promptly replied : 

"I am ready to afford you any assistance in my power, but you 
will readily perceive how difficult an undefined position such as 
I now hold must be." 



1 66 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

General McClellan remained in Alexandria as ordered, 
after arriving from the Peninsula, doing what he could in 
forwarding troops and supplies to the front, and arranging 
for the care of the wounded as they arrived from the 
battlefield. 

On the ist day of September he was ordered to Washing- 
ton by General Halleck, and verbally directed to take charge 
of the defences of the capital. During the day the serious 
disasters attending General Pope's operations became fully 
known, and early on the morning of the 2nd, the President, 
without consulting with his Cabinet or his General-in-chief, 
directed General McClellan to take command and caused 
the following order to be issued: 

"Major-General McClellan will have command of the fortifi- 
cations of Washington and of all troops for the defence of the 
capital." 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN INCLUDING THE BATTLE OF 
CRAMPTON'S PASS 

AFTER General Lee had defeated General Pope and 
driven his army to the fortifications of Washington, 
he marched to Leesburg, crossed the Potomac, and con- 
centrated his forces near Frederickstown between the 2nd 
and 7th of September. From this position he could threaten 
Washington and Baltimore, and expected to draw the Union 
army from the south side of the Potomac, where it menaced 
his communications with Richmond. When this should be 
accomplished, he proposed to march into Western Mary- 
land and to threaten Pennsylvania. He expected that his 
occupation of Frederickstown would compel the Union 
forces to evacuate Martinsburg and Harper's Ferry, and 
open a safe line of communication with his base through 
th e Shenandoah Valley. Finding that Harper's Ferry was still 
held by the Union forces, he directed "Stonewall" Jackson, 
on the 9th of September, to reduce Harper's Ferry and clear 
the Valley, and then join the rest of the army at Boons- 
borough or Hagerstown. 

General McClellan gave a broader construction to the 
order which closed the last chapter, than did his immedi- 
ate superiors. He believed it his duty, as commander "of 
all the troops for the defence of the capital," to pursue and 
drive from Maryland the forces of the enemy whose pres- 
ence had caused his assignment to this command. General 



i68 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Halleck defined its terms as limiting his authority to the 
command of the troops within the fortifications and their 
operations in the immediate vicinity of the capital, and ques- 
tioned his right, without further orders, to pursue the enemy 
or to direct the movement of troops beyond the defences 
of Washington. McClellan neither asked nor waited for addi- 
tional orders, but assigned General Banks, with a suitable 
garrison, to hold the fortifications, and proceeded in three 
columns to meet Lee's army; General Burnside to command 
the right column, consisting of the First and Ninth Corps; 
General Sumner commanding the centre column, consisting 
of the Second and Twelfth Corps; General FrankUn com- 
manding the left column, consisting of the Sixth Corps and 
Couch's division of the Fourth Corps, Couch moving on the 
road nearest to the Potomac. These corps left their camps 
in Virginia, and the fortifications north of Washington, 
between the 3d and the 6th of September. 

On the 13th of September, the Ninth Corps was at Middle- 
town, the First, Second and Twelfth Corps at Frederick, 
the Sixth Corps near Jefferson, Couch's division at Licks- 
ville, and Sykes's division at Frederick. General Halleck 
was much disturbed by the advance of the army, and cau- 
tioned McClellan against "stripping too much the forts on 
the Virginia side; the enemy may draw off the mass of our 
forces, and then attempt to attack from the Virginia side of 
the Potomac." On the 13th, General Halleck expressed 
fear for the safety of the capital, "Until you know more 
certainly the enemy's force south of the Potomac you are 
wrong in thus uncovering the capital." 

General Lee's order directing the movements of his army 
came into the hands of General McClellan on the 13th, 
and he ordered the army to advance without waiting for the 
trains, — the First and Ninth Corps to Turner's Pass, and 
the Sixth Corps to Crampton's Pass. The First and Ninth 



The Maryland Campaign 169 

Corps fought the battle of Turner's Pass from 2 p.m. until 
dark on the 14th of September, and slept on their arms on 
the summit of South Mountain. The Sixth Corps fought 
the battle of Crampton's Pass from 3 p.m. until night on the 
same day. The Sixteenth held a prominent place in the ac- 
tion, one of the hottest during its term of service, and the 
only one in which its valor was rewarded by a victory which 
enabled it to sleep on the field of battle. The enemy at 
Crampton's Pass were all driven down the mountain side on 
the evening of the 14th, leaving their dead and wounded 
in our hands. At Turner's Pass the enemy departed be- 
tween midnight and daylight, also leaving their dead and 
wounded. The operations in both battles were skilfully 
directed and heroically carried forward. 

General McClellan had requested, on the loth of Septem- 
ber, that Colonel D. S. Miles, commanding the forces at 
Harper's Ferry and in that vicinity, should be ordered to 
report to him, that the troops might be usefully employed, 
but General Halleck declined to accede to this sensible 
suggestion, and Colonel Miles surrendered eleven thousand 
men and a large amount of stores the morning after the bat- 
tles of Turner's and Crampton's Passes, when relief was 
within a few miles of him. The surrender was chiefly due to 
the fact that General Halleck had entirely misjudged the 
situation when he refused to act on McClellan's request that 
he should abandon the position. 

The First Division of the Sixth Corps met the main force 
of the enemy at Crampton's Pass, sustaining a loss of 113 
killed, 418 wounded, 2 missing, total 533. The Second 
Division, supporting the flank of the first, lost one killed, 
nineteen wounded, total twenty. The heaviest share of 
the losses in the First Division fell on Bartlett's brigade, 
48 killed, 169 wounded, total 217. The Sixteenth New 
York took into action 270 officers and men and lost 18 killed, 



lyo Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

43 wounded, total 6i. A nominal list will be found in the 
Appendix, page 362. 

A detailed account of the operations of the Sixteenth is 
graphically told in the letters of Lieutenant-Colonel Seaver 
and of Lieutenant Walling: 

"Headquarters Sixteenth New York. 
"In the Field, Crampton's Pass, Maryland, September 15, 1862. 

"My dear Colonel Howland: — 

"I give you joy for the conduct of the Sixteenth yesterday! 
Slocum's division went in and carried the Pass by storm. The 
Sixteenth led the advance, and we have one rebel battle-flag 
as a trophy, and mourn the loss of 18 men killed, 43 wounded, 
including Lieutenant Jones, a total of 61. 

"I have no time or space to give you a full account. So, in 
brief, the Twenty-seventh New York and Ninety-sixth Pennsyl- 
vania were deployed as skirmishers. The Fifth Maine, with 
the Sixteenth on the right, advanced in line, in fine order under 
fire, to a crest within range of a stone wall at the base of the moun- 
tain, and of course, the edge of a wood. Here, protected by a 
fence, we fired for thirty minutes or more, and were relieved by the 
Thirty-second New York and the Eighteenth New York. Soon, 
being satisfied that the rebels could not be driven from behind 
the stone wall, the 'Jerseys' were brought up and led the charge. 
Newton's brigade followed, and Bartlett's was the third line of 
the advance, at the start. The fields were cleared and the stone 
wall carried at the point of the bayonet, and when the skirt of 
the wood at the base of the mountain was reached, your regiment 
led the charge. The men fought nobly and pressed on up the 
steep ascent under a perfect shower of bullets, and their example 
encouraged others, who faltered before the terrors of the enemy 
and the steepness of the hill, to follow, and, as I had expected to 
find, the rebels were drawn up to receive us. * Down ' went the men 
at my order, and down came a volley from a full regiment or more, 
and we returned the fire. We had them started, and — they could 
not help it — they ran. The line of our advance was marked by 
a train of cold and lifeless rebellious mortality, from the base to 



The Maryland Campaign 171 

the summit of the mountain. At sundown we held the Pass, 
and last night, for the first time, we slept on the field of battle." 

From Lieutenant William H. Walling's letter to his sister: 

"On Battle-field, Crampton's Pass, Maryland, 

"September 15, 1862. 

"Another eventful day has passed. Yesterday we went to 
meeting — not that peaceful, quiet kind that you probably partici- 
pated in, but that kind in which graves are peopled. Slocum's 
division achieved a most glorious victory; drove the enemy from 
a strong and well-chosen position, capturing four hundred pris- 
oners, three stands of colors, one light twelve pounder, and seven 
hundred muskets. We charged on the enemy and drove them 
up a steep mountain at the point of the bayonet. I came out as 
before, all right. A bullet grazed my nose starting blood. I 
can well say as David of old, ' O God, the Lord, thou hast covered 
my head in the day of battle.' For others I can not say as much. 
Company D had six killed, six wounded, — three mortally, one 
severely and two slightly. All others of the company present 
are well. Captain Parker and Lieutenant Barney joined us yes- 
terday evening from hospital in Alexandria, where they were 
left sick when we marched from Virginia on this campaign. The 
company behaved most nobly. They are brave and gallant fel- 
lows." 



As stated in an earlier chapter, I was sent to the general 
hospital at Harrison's Landing on the nth of August, five 
days before the regiment left for Newport News, and two 
days later was transferred to a new hospital at Point Look- 
out, Maryland, with a number of wounded and sick officers. 
A week later I was transferred to Fairfax Street Hospital, 
Alexandria, Virginia, where I remained about two weeks in 
company with Captain George Parker and Lieutenant 
Albert M. Barney, who had entered the hospital on the 6th 
of September, the day the regiment entered upon the 



172 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Maryland campaign in pursuit of General Lee. Still in com- 
pany with them, I rejoined the regiment the day of the battle 
of Crampton 's Pass. We traveled by the Baltimore Railroad 
to Frederick City, Maryland, and thence by hired convey- 
ance to Jefferson, through which village Slocum's division 
had passed, a few hours before our arrival. Here we heard 
the sound of the cannon, brought into action by both 
sides in beginning the battle of Crampton's Pass. No per- 
suasions or offer of money could induce the driver of our 
carriage to take us to the battle-field, so we marched forward 
" in light order," for we were in no condition to carry baggage, 
as we had left the hospital against the protest of the sur- 
geon. We proceeded on the line our troops had taken, and 
approached the place where our regiment had first met the 
enemy's fire, (as indicated by the bodies of our killed com- 
rades,) just as Bartlett's brigade had reached the summit 
of the mountain up which it had driven the enemy, where it 
captured all who had not fled down the opposite slope. 
We had arrived too late to participate in one of the most 
brilliant and sanguinary engagements in which the regiment 
took part during its term of service. Failing to join our 
command in time to discharge the most important duty of 
a soldier's life, we entered upon the second, the care of the 
wounded and the burial of the dead. The enemy's fire of 
artillery and infantry had been very effective about six or 
seven hundred paces from the base of the mountain, where 
his advanced line was posted behind a stone wall. Between 
this line and half way up the side of the mountain, where 
the enemy made his last stand, the most of our killed and 
wounded were found. 

Our ambulance corps had followed close after the firing 
line and carried the wounded below the mountain to the 
field hospital, and were bringing in, as fast as they were 
able, those wounded as the line ascended the mountain. 



The Maryland Campaign 173 

Here we had an opportunity to witness the field hospital 
service as organized after the battles on the Peninsula, 
and observed how much more efficient it was than the sys- 
tem first adopted. At the beginning, each regimental 
surgeon had sole charge of the wounded of his regiment, 
of bringing them from the field and of treating them in the 
field hospital. He had under his charge three ambulances 
and drivers, the musicians and detailed nurses. This sys- 
tem was unsatisfactory in many ways. The casualties 
are not usually distributed equally among the regiments; 
the losses in one regiment might exceed those in two or three 
others, and the numbers in one requiring attention exceed 
the facilities provided, while others had no use for the means 
at their disposal. While all medical officers, before being 
appointed, were examined to determine their technical and 
expert knowledge, it required little time in active service 
to disclose the fact that not every one who passed the exam- 
ination was competent to perform difficult operations, or 
able to decide whether they should be capital or minor ones. 

A reorganization was made at Harrison's Landing which 
made the brigade the unit, instead of the regiment, and 
these units were combined into divisions and corps organiza- 
tions. The medical director in the field had general super- 
vision over all. A captain was detailed to take charge 
of the ambulances of an army corps, a first lieutenant those 
of a division, and a second lieutenant of a brigade, and the 
latter had under his command three ambulances with drivers, 
two stretcher-bearers for each ambulance, a non-commis- 
sioned officer and nine men from each regiment. A chief 
operator was detailed, with a suitable number of medical 
assistants and dressers, for each brigade hospital, except 
when a single hospital was designated for a division. 

This system was first put into operation in the Sixth Corps 
at the battle of Crampton's Pass, Maryland, September 



174 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

14, 1862. First Lieutenant Wilson Hopkins, Sixteenth 
New York, was in command of the Ambulance Corps of 
General Slocum's division and had his first experience in 
removing the wounded from the field of battle. In a recent 
letter he summarizes his work and feelings on that occasion : 

"Most of our badly wounded were brought to the hospital by 
dark. We then began to collect the wounded Confederates, who 
were found from the base of the mountain, increasing in numbers 
as we ascended, to the very top. We carried them to the field 
hospital until midnight, when the surgeons, overcome by exhaus- 
tion, were unable to care for more. We then collected all we 
could find and placed them in a group, near the top of the moun- 
tain, gave them food and water, built fires to warm them, and I 
directed two Confederates, found hiding behind the rocks and 
uninjured, to remain with their wounded comrades, attend to 
their wants and keep the fires burning. At sunrise the next 
morning, I went with my stretcher-bearers to the camp I had 
made for the wounded Confederates, and found the fires burned 
out, six of the forty dead, and learned that the two men I had 
placed in charge of them with directions to keep the fires burning, 
had, soon after I left them the night before, abandoned their 
charge and rejoined the Confederate army encamped in the 
valley beyond. We carried the survivors to the hospital, leaving 
a detail to bury the dead. 

"This was my first experience in gathering the wounded from 
a battle-field after it was won. Many have visited such places 
and reported the sickening sights, but I cannot describe their 
ghastly realities. Later I became more familiar with such scenes, 
yet I can never forget that dreadful night; its horrors overshadow 
all spectacles I witnessed on other battle-fields, and the memory 
of what I there saw will remain with me to the end." 

A large proportion of shots in battle are ineffective be- 
cause of the universal habit of aiming too high. In the 
battle of Crampton's Pass the enemy occupied the higher 



The Maryland Campaign 175 

ground, and of the shots which were effective, a greater 
percentage was fatal than in ordinary battles, because the 
balls struck the heads or chests of our men. The list of 
casualties, found farther on, shows that nearly one-half of 
the number hit were killed outright or mortally wounded. 
In ordinary battles, the killed and the mortally wounded 
stand as about one to five of the wounded. The unequal 
distribution of casualties in a regiment was very marked 
in this battle. Company D lost in killed and mortally 
wounded more than one- third of the number taken into action, 
and more than one-third of fatal casualties sustained by the 
regiment. This was not in any way due to want of care or 
ability on the part of the commander, Lieutenant Walling, 
who was one of the most attentive and capable officers in the 
regiment. It fell to the lot of this company to advance on 
open ground over a longer distance than other companies. 

After assisting in burying the dead and looking after the 
wounded, on the 15th, I visited the hospital containing 
the Confederate wounded, to ascertain whether any Mis- 
sissippians from Vicksburg were among them. My brother, 
Andrew Jackson Curtis, had resided in that city from 1850 
to 1858, when the decline, which followed an attack of yellow 
fever in 1855, leaving no hope for his recovery, induced him 
to return to his old home in St. Lawrence County, where 
he arrived a short time before his death which occurred 
on the 5th of July, 1858. When he left Mississippi, there 
were no signs of the approaching storm which swept the 
country from 1 861 to 1865. In the days preceding his death 
he gave me the names of many men he knew in Vicksburg, 
and requested me to remember always that the Missis- 
sippians had been good to him. I announced his death to 
those whom he had referred to as warm friends, and a cor- 
respondence sprang up which continued until the suspension 
of mail facilities between the North and the South. I 



176 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

continued to subscribe for the newspapers published in the 
larger cities of the South, which my brother had taken, and, 
from letters and papers received after the close of the Presi- 
dential Campaign of i860, was prepared to believe that the 
secession of a single State would be followed by all the Gulf 
States at least. My statement made in the first war meeting 
in Depeyster, that the attack on Sumter was the beginning of 
a great war, was the expression of a conviction based on 
the statements contained in these letters and in the newspapers 
I had received from the South. 

While the Sixteenth had met the Mississippians in battle, 
I had never met one off the firing line, and I visited the 
hospital where the Confederates were, hoping that I might 
find a friend of my brother, should there be any among 
them from that State. I soon ascertained that there was 
none in the battle of Crampton's Pass. The first cot I 
approached was occupied by a young man from North 
CaroHna who had just come from the operating room where 
he had lost an arm. To my question "are there any Mis- 
sissippians in this hospital?" he replied "I do not know, 
but I do know there are no men here who do not hate the 
Yankees. I regret the loss of my right arm because I cannot 
fight them as well as I did with two." I stated that I was 
not aware of his great loss or I would not have disturbed him. 
As I moved on, he followed me with imprecations that no 
well man in his senses would have uttered. I found in the 
hospital several to whom I was able to offer some comfort 
by way of relieving their apprehensions as to harsh treat- 
ment while prisoners of war. I recall two pitiable cases. 
One, a man with iron grey hair showing that he had passed 
the age of efficiency in active service, pathetically lamented 
the fact that he had lost all his money during the battle, and 
would be unable to procure articles essential to his com- 
fort when in a military prison. I gave him a greenback 



The Maryland Campaign 177 

which he said was of a value nearly equal to his loss. The 
sincerity of his gratitude was unquestioned. 

The other was a young lad, apparently sixteen or seven- 
teen years old, who was filled with the most fearful forebod- 
ings as to his future and that of his family. His wound was 
not serious, but he conjured up the most unreasonable fan- 
tasies as to the effect his wounds and capture would have 
on his mother. He said " I fear she will die; then my younger 
brothers and sisters will perish, for my father was killed in 
one of the battles in Virginia last August." I suggested 
that he might be paroled, then he could go home and remain, 
as paroled prisoners were not put into action until exchanged. 
He was unwilUng to listen to my suggestion that he might 
give his parole, and said he " could not promise not to fight 
the Yankees any more; if he did his mother would disown 
him; nor would he willingly leave his colors." He wished 
to fight until victory for the South was won, and if he could 
not do that, to die on the field as his father had. His great- 
est desire was to obtain an early exchange. His heart was 
stout to bear every hardship and peril except that insidious 
disease, more common to the young than to those of mature 
years, homesickness. This disease is best resisted or over- 
come in active service, but in camp, and especially a prison 
camp, it is neither resisted or controlled by medicine, for- 
titude or valor. I learned two weeks after, from the surgeon 
in charge of the hospital, that this brave and interesting 
Georgia boy had succumbed to that disease which, in 
Northern and Southern prisons alike, claimed many victims, 
nostalgia. 

As I passed on, I found I was attracting unusual attention, 
and heard repeatedly, "looks enough like him to be his 
brother." I asked for an explanation and was informed that 
I bore a striking resemblance to a Lieutenant-Colonel Curtis, 
of the Georgia. I did not meet my namesake, but 



lyS Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

was glad to hear him well spoken of by his associates. I 
have been addressed, by perfect strangers from Alabama, 
Georgia and Tennessee, as Curtis, under different titles, 
and when, on a closer inspection, they found I did not know 
them, nor they me, each said I bore a striking resemblance 
to one of his neighbors. I have no knowledge that I have 
relatives in the South, beyond a family tradition that a near 
descendant of WilHam Curtis went from Boston to the 
South in the seventeenth century. It is a subject of much 
interest, sometimes, to find that avital characteristics are so 
well transmitted, that a grandson of the tenth generation can 
sit for a portrait of a cousin nine times removed. 

Whether my donation, or the comments of the Georgian 
who discovered my resemblance to one of their officers, 
mollified the unfriendly North Carolinian, I can not say; 
but he sent an attendant to request me to stop at his cot 
before leaving. When I approached him he said: "I wish 
to apologize for the harsh words addressed to you when you 
entered. They doubtless annoyed, but could not injure 
you ; they did me, for they beUed my breeding, and I ask you 
to ascribe them to the anaesthetics I took before submitting to 
the cruel operation I had just passed through. Your kind 
words and generous conduct to my fellow sufferers satisfy 
me that your heart is right, if according to my views your 
principles are wrong; and I ask you to forgive me for the 
words I used and, should you ever think of me again, that 
you will believe me a true son of the South and a gentle- 
man." 

Slocum's division remained encamped on the field it had 
so brilliantly won, until an early hour of the morning of the 
17th, when it marched across Pleasant Valley to the sound 
of the cannon with which the battle of Antietam was opened. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 

GENERAL LEE'S purpose "to move his army into 
Western Maryland, establish communication with 
Richmond through the Valley of the Shenandoah, and, by 
threatening Pennsylvania, induce the enemy to follow, and 
thus draw him from his base of supplies," was frustrated by 
the continued occupation of Harper's Ferry by Colonel D. S. 
Miles. The withdrawal of Longstreet's corps from their 
march to Hagerstown, to oppose the passage of Burnside's 
command, the First and Ninth Corps, through Turner's Pass, 
and to strengthen the forces of McLaws in resisting the pas- 
sage of Franklin's corps through Crampton's Pass, required 
General Lee to select another position from which to operate 
instead of Hagerstown, and one affording him the greatest 
advantage in case he should be forced to give battle. He 
chose the heights of Sharpsburg, west of Antietam Creek, 
where his flanks would be protected by the Potomac River. 
Following the unsuccessful efforts to prevent the Union 
army from passing through Turner's and Crampton's Passes, 
as described in the last chapter, he ordered the command- 
ers of the different detachments, including those charged 
with the capture of Harper's Ferry, to assemble at Sharps- 
burg by forced marches. Longstreet's corps marched from 
the battle-field of Turner's Pass, arriving early on the morn- 
ing of the 15th at Sharpsburg, and took position on the 
heights east and north of that village. General Jackson 
(having designated General A. P. Hill to receive the surrender 



i8o Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

of Colonel Miles's command), by forced marches arrived at 
Sharpsburg at sunrise on the i6th, took position two miles or 
more south of D. H. Hill's division, which was the left of 
Longstreet's corps, and connecting his own left with Gen- 
eral Stuart's cavalry which extended to the Potomac. Gen- 
eral McLaws, with his own and R. H. Anderson's divisions, 
reported to General Lee at sunrise on the morning of the 17th, 
and was sent to re-enforce the centre and left of the Con- 
federate line. 

When the First Corps opened the battle on the morning 
of the 1 7th, General Lee had in Hne of battle, and in reserve, 
all the troops of the army of Northern Virginia, except A. P. 
Hill's division, and that joined him at 2.30 p.m., in time to 
be put into position on the right of his line, and into action 
to meet the attack of Burnside's corps. 

General McClellan's army came upon the field and went 
into action in the following order: General Hooker's corps, 
the First, marched, on the 15th, from the battle-field of 
Turner's Pass and bivouacked near Keedysville. On the 
afternoon of the i6th, he crossed Antietam Creek, ad- 
vanced to the front of the enemy's left, and engaged him with 
his artillery and infantry until dark. His men slept on their 
arms that night, with General Seymour's brigade picketing 
the front of the corps. At daylight, on the 17th, Hooker's 
corps advanced upon the enemy, engaging him with artil- 
lery and infantry, and was met with stubborn resistance. 
The Twelfth Corps, under command of Major-General 
Mansfield, came on the field at 2 o'clock that morning, en- 
camped in the rear of Hooker's, and was early put into 
action on the right of the First Corps. 

General McClellan in his report, says : 

"The line of battle of this corps [the Twelfth] was formed, 
and became engaged about 7 a.m., the attack being opened by 



Battle of Antietam 



i»i 



Knap's Pennsylvania, Cothran's New York, and Hampton's 
Pittsburgh batteries." 

Knap's battery marched and fought with the Sixtieth 
New York throughout that regiment's term of service. 
Its brave and efficient commander was the grandson of 
James Averell of Ogdensburg, one of our first merchants 
and bankers. We are glad to believe that the company's 
standing, as one of the best in the service, was in large part 
due to the sterling qualities inherited by its commander 
from his maternal ancestors. His father, Thomas L. Knap, 
was well known as a man of great intelligence and of untir- 
ing energy. He was the pioneer in developing the Rossie 
Lead Mines, and in establishing smelting works. In the 
early fifties, he moved to Pittsburg and became associated 
with his brother, Charles Knap, who was one of the early 
masters of that industry which has made Pittsburg the centre 
of the greatest steel and iron manufacturing districts in the 
world. Thomas L. Knap died some years before the war, 
and when his eldest son, Joseph M. Knap, organized an 
artillery company, it is worth remembering that his uncle, 
Charles Knap, tendered the guns and the battery's equip- 
ments to the United States Government. For meritorious 
services and gallant conduct in action while commanding his 
battery, and as chief of artillery of his division. Captain 
Joseph M. Knap was promoted major, and given command 
of a battalion of light batteries. 

General Sumner's corps, the Second, marched from 
Keedysville at 7 o'clock a.m., and went at once into action 
on the left of the First Corps. These three corps were hotly 
engaged with the enemy until 10 o'clock, when General W. F. 
Smith's division of Franklin's corps, the Sixth, arrived 
on the field from Crampton's Pass battle-field. General 
Hancock's brigade was sent to support batteries on Sumner's 



i82 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

line, General Brooks's brigade, at the right of General 
French's line. Colonel Irwin's brigade charged the enemy, 
near the Dunker Church, and gallantly drove them back 
into the woods. General Slocum's division of Frankhn's 
corps followed Smith's from Crampton's Pass, and arrived 
on the field at noon. Colonel Bartlett's brigade was placed 
in front of the Dunker Church, relieving a portion of Sum- 
ner's corps. Newton's and Torbert's brigades had been 
formed into a column of attack to take possession of the 
woods near the church, and were waiting for Bartlett's 
brigade to come from Sumner's front to form the reserve 
of the attacking column, when General Sumner ordered 
the attack to be postponed. The enemy, anticipating the 
proposed movement, filled the woods with infantry and 
opened on our lines with artillery, to which the Sixth Corps 
batteries responded and soon silenced their guns. 

General Sumner had been actively engaged for five or 
six hours, had witnessed the fearful losses sustained by the 
three corps which had fought the same ground over two or 
three times, and was greatly depressed by what he had seen. 
General Franklin had just come on the field and formed his 
opinion of the situation as he saw it, without being influ- 
enced by the conditions and operations which had preceded 
his arrival. It was the opinion of Franklin, as well as that 
of many officers of the Sixth Corps, that the attack should 
have been made, and that it would have been successful 
in closing the operations of our right wing with a complete 
victory. This was the feeling of the officers and men of 
the Sixteenth, and at no time in its term of service would 
the regiment have advanced upon the enemy with more 
alacrity and confidence of success than at that time. 

General Burnside's corps, the Ninth, marched on the 
morning of the 15th from Turner's Pass by the Sharpsburg 
road, and took position on the extreme left opposite the 



Battle of Antietam 183 

Middle Antietam Bridge. On the morning of the i6th, Burn- 
side placed his batteries on the crest of the hill near the 
bridge and moved his infantry to their support. On the 
morning of the 17th, the enemy opened on his line with ar- 
tillery, and was at once repHed to by the batteries of the 
Ninth Corps, which soon silenced his guns and blew up 
two of his caissons. 

In his report, General McClellan comments severely 
on the failure of the Ninth Corps to cross Antietam Bridge 
at 8 o'clock in the morning as he had ordered, and states 
that it did not move, although he had sent the same order 
three times, to cross the bridge and carry the opposite heights 
at all hazards; and that it was not until i o'clock, when Col- 
onel Sacket carried the order for the fourth time, and was 
instructed to remain on the ground to see that the order was 
executed, that the bridge was carried by a "brilliant charge 
of the Fifty-first New York and the Fifty-first Pennsylvania." 
After crossing the bridge, a halt was made until 3 p.m., 
when the advance was spiritedly resumed and carried to the 
border of Sharpsburg, where it met Longstreet's main line 
just before dark, when it was re-enforced by the division of 
A. P. Hill, and driven back to the bridge. 

On the morning of the 17th, General Pleasonton's cav- 
alry division was advanced over Antietam Creek Bridge, 
on the Sharpsburg turnpike, to support Sumner's line. 
Sumner's left was more than two miles from Burnside's 
right, and Pleasonton threw forward skirmishers in ad- 
vance of Tidball's battery, which was followed by Gibson's, 
Haines's and Robertson's batteries. They opened an en- 
filading fire upon the enemy in front of Sumner's left, and 
in front of the right of Burnside's corps. Pleasonton's bat- 
teries fired for two hours, exhausting their ammunition, 
and when they retired by piece and section to replenish, 
their places were taken by batteries of Sykes's division of 



184 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

the Fifth Corps, which sent five battalions of infantry to 
support the guns. At 7 p.m., General McClellan ordered 
Pleasonton to withdraw from the line and bivouac at Keedys- 
ville for the night. 

Major- General Fitz-John Porter was not ordered to leave 
the defenses of Washington south of the Potomac and report 
to General McClellan, until late on the night of the nth. 
The troops of his corps were widely distributed. General 
Morell's division, stationed in the fortifications, was the 
only portion under his immediate command. General 
Sykes had gone forward and joined McClellan's army. 
On the 12th, General Humphrey, commanding a division 
of new troops, was placed under General Porter's orders. 
The regiments were not properly supplied with tents and 
camp equipage, and, leaving Humphrey to make proper 
provision for them. Porter proceeded in advance and reported 
to General McClellan at South Mountain on the 14th, and 
resumed command of Sykes's division and the Reserve Artil- 
lery with it. On the 15th, Porter marched Sykes's divi- 
sion on the Sharpsburg road, and placed the infantry behind 
the heights to the left of the road near Antietam Bridge. 
Porter's artillery arrived during the night and was put into 
position near his infantry. General Morell's division ar- 
rived from the fortifications at Washington, at noon on the 
17th, and joined the Fifth Corps. It was McClellan's first 
intention to hold the Fifth Corps in reserve, but the artil- 
lery was directed to open fire on the enemy stationed on the 
Sharpsburg Heights, and Morell's division crossed Antietam 
Creek and supported batteries on the right of Richardson's 
division, and, later, two other brigades from the Fifth Corps 
were sent to Sumner, but returned by order of General Mc- 
Clellan without having been engaged. 

General Humphrey's division arrived on the i8th, and 
was encamped near Sykes's division. The troops of the 



Battle of Antietam 185 

Ninth Corps had been severely engaged from the middle 
of the afternoon until dark, on our left, and those of the First, 
Second and Twelfth Corps had fought continuously from 
early morning, on our right. Franklin's, the Sixth Corps, 
came on the ground between 10 and 12 o'clock, in time for 
the infantry of Smith's division and the artillery of the corps 
to take part in the action. Slocum's division had been placed 
in order for attack, and held under fire from its arrival. All 
these, with the exception of the pickets sent out to protect 
them, rested and slept on their arms on the ground they 
severally occupied when the artillery of the contending armies 
ceased firing; and when darkness closed the contest for the 
day there were, between the lines, lying side by side, a numer- 
ous company of the dead and severely wounded, drawn from 
the ranks of both armies. 

Had Burnside crossed the bridge and engaged the enemy's 
right at 8 o'clock, with the spirit he did at 3 o'clock and while 
the First, Second and Twelfth Corps were making their 
splendid contest on the enemy's left, and had Franklin been 
allowed to attack when he came on the field from his success- 
ful battle at Crampton's Pass, it can not be doubted that our 
army would have won an overwhelming victory. As it 
turned out, it is but fair to call Antietam a drawn battle, 
for both armies rested on the field for more than thirty hours 
without renewing the contest. Our claim that we won a vic- 
tory rests chiefly on the fact that the Confederates left, 
abandoning their dead where they fell, and their wounded, 
both on the field and in temporary hospitals. It is doubtful 
whether, since the use of improved fire-arms, a battle has 
been fought where the contestants showed more devotion, 
valor and fortitude, or suffered greater losses than were 
exhibited and sustained at Antietam. 

Without giving more details of the operations of the sev- 
eral corps than the time and order of their arrival on the 



i86 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

field, the reader's attention is called to the list of casualties 
appended, which shows the character and quality of the 
men composing the organizations, as well as the severe tasks 
they were called upon to perform. 

Casualties in the Union Army in the Battle of Antietam. 

Killed. Wounded. Missing. Total. 

First Corps 417 2051 122 2590 

Second Corps 883 3859 396 5183 

Fifth Corps 17 90 2 109 

Sixth Corps 72 334 33 439 

Ninth Corps 438 1796 115 2349 

Twelfth Corps 275 1386 85 1746 

Cavalry Corps 7 23 — 30 

2109 9539 753 12,401 

The casualties in thp regiments raised wholly or in part 
in Northern New York were as follows: Sixteenth, i killed, 
I mortally wounded, and i wounded and recovered, total 
3; Eighteenth New York, 4 wounded and recovered; Thirty- 
fourth New York, 43 killed and mortally wounded, 74 
wounded, total 117; Fifty-ninth New York (this regiment 
was raised in New York City, but its commander in this bat- 
tle. Lieutenant- Colonel John L. Stetson, had been pro- 
moted from the Sixteenth), lost 67 killed and mortally wounded, 
including Lieutenant-Colonel Stetson, 135 wounded, total 
202; Sixtieth New York lost 3 killed, including Colonel 
Goodrich commanding the brigade, 3 mortally wounded 
and 16 wounded and recovered, total 22. 

Under the first call for three years' troops, WilUam B. 
Goodrich, a lawyer of Canton, editor and founder of the 
St. Lawrence Plaindealcr, raised a company of which he 
was commissioned captain, September 12th, 1861, and on the 
organization of the Sixtieth regiment and its muster into 
the United States service, October 30, 1 861, he was appointed 



Battle of Antietam 187 

the lieutenant-colonel. On the 13th of May, 1862, he 
was promoted colonel vice Colonel George S. Greene, pro- 
moted brigadier-general. Colonel Goodrich commanded 
the respect of his subordinates and the consideration and 
confidence of his superiors. 

Colonel William B. Hay ward, the first colonel of the Six- 
tieth, was a most incompetent officer, and the regiment under 
his command went through nearly three months of suffering 
which seriously impaired its morale. Governor Morgan 
sought to repair the first mistake, and commissioned George 
S. Greene its second colonel. A brief account of the char- 
acter and services of this remarkable man may be fittingly 
given in a volume treating of the men who were members 
of Northern New York organizations in the Civil War. 

George Sears Greene was a graduate of the United States 
Military Academy, standing second in the class of 1823. 
He was appointed a brevet second lieutenant in the First 
Artillery, later second and first lieutenant in the Third 
Artillery, from which he resigned in 1836, having served 
with his company, on ordance duty, and as Assistant Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics, and principal Assistant Professor 
of Engineering in the MiUtary Academy. After resigning, 
he was chief engineer of railroads in New England and in 
the Southern States, and superintended their construction 
until 1852, when he became Engineer of the Croton Water- 
works extension and the reservoir in Central Park, New 
York City. He was appointed colonel of the Sixtieth New 
York, January 18, 1862, promoted brigadier-general. May 
8, 1862, and assigned to the Twelfth Corps under Banks, 
having under his command the Sixtieth New York to the 
end of the war. 

He commanded a brigade in the battle of Cedar Mountain, 
August 9, 1862, a division in the battle of Antietam, Sep- 
tember 17, 1862, a brigade in the battle of Chancellorsville 



i88 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

in May, 1863, and the Third Brigade of the Second Divi- 
sion of the Twelfth Corps in the battle of Gettysburg, July, 
1863. When the First Division and two brigades of the 
Second Division of the Twelfth Corps were moved from the 
right of the Union line at Gettysburg, to assist in repelling 
an attack on the left, General Greene was directed to occupy 
with his brigade the late line of the corps, and to resist any 
attempt of the enemy to break through. Greene's brigade, 
consisting of the Sixtieth, the Seventy-eighth, the One Hund- 
red and Second, the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh, and 
the One Hundred and Forty-ninth New York regiments, 
numbering 1350 officers and men, was deployed in one rank 
at double distances, and held every foot of the line, although 
several times assaulted by a superior force of the enemy. 
With exhausted ammunition, he ordered bayonets to be 
fixed, holding the last charge until the enemy should reach 
his hastily constructed breastworks. They came so near, 
that a brave Confederate color-bearer fell close to the line, 
and his standard dropped into the hands of the unflinching 
men of Greene's brigade. General Slocum, the Corps com- 
mander, in his report, says; 

" Greene's brigade, of the Second Division, remained in the 
intrenchments, and the failure of the enemy to gain entire posses- 
sion of our works was due entirely to the skill of General Greene 
and the heroic valor of his troops." 

It has been stated by those most competent to judge, 
that, had the Confederates broken Greene's line, there 
would have been no necessity for General Lee to have or- 
dered Pickett's charge, and the progress of the Southern 
arms would not have reached "High-tide at Gettysburg." 
General Greene's appreciation of the stubborn valor of his 
troops and his great interest in their welfare and comfort 
were illustrated by his reply to Commissary-Sergeant Edwin 



Battle of Antietam 189 

R. Follett of the Sixtieth, who, in searching the field for the 
regiment about midnight, two hours after the enemy had 
abandoned his efforts to break through the line, stumbled 
on and awakened a sleeping man who sharply ordered him 
"to his regiment and not go prowling through the camps." 
Sergeant Follett knew the voice to be that of General Greene, 
and stated that he was hunting for the Sixtieth, to issue 
rations. The general pointed to the part of the line where 
the vigilant sentinels were stationed, slightly in advance of 
the men, fitfully sleeping on their arms, and said, "there 
they are, give them the best you have, every man deserves 
a warm biscuit and a plate of ice-cream." The State of 
New York in May, 1903, ordered a bronze statue of Brevet 
Major-General George Sears Greene to be erected on the 
battle-field of Gettysburg, and it mil soon be dedicated on 
Gulp's Hill, made for ever memorable by his skill and by 
the unsurpassed bravery of the five New York regiments 
composing his brigade. 

With the exception of forty days following a severe wound 
received at Wauhatchie, General Greene continued with 
the Twelfth Corps until the end of the war, and remained 
in the service, on special duty in the War Department, until 
April 30, 1866, when he was mustered out. The next day, 
he was appointed Engineer of the Croton Aqueduct De- 
partment of New York City, and the following year, Chief- 
Engineer, and the Commissioner of the Department. While 
on this duty, he prepared the plans and superintended the 
construction of the dam on the West Branch of the Croton 
River, the height and length of which were greater than those 
of any other on the continent. He closed his active profes- 
sional career in his eighty-seventh year, and, as one of his 
last professional acts, he walked through the entire length of 
the tunnels of the Croton Water-works, a feat that his asso- 
ciates, twenty-five years his junior, were unable to perform. 



igo Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

In his ninety-fourth year, by a bill which I introduced and 
managed, in the House of Representatives, he was restored 
to the same rank in the United States Army from which he had 
resigned fifty-eight years before. He continued in posses- 
sion of his mental faculties without impairment, and with 
slight physical weakness, until his death on the 28th of Jan- 
uary, 1899; having been born in the first year of the nine- 
teenth century and hving to within less than two years of 
its close. He attained a greater age than any other grad- 
uate of the United States MiUtaiy Academy, or any offi- 
cer whose name had been borne on the rolls of the United 
States Army, and was probably the oldest officer of his rank 
in the world. It has been said, and maybe taken as a physio- 
logical truth, that the beginning of a sound and vigorous 
man's life should start three hundred years before his birth; 
it is of record that General Greene came of an ancestry 
which, for unnumbered years, had both physical and mental 
vigor. General Nathaniel Greene was conspicuous for 
physical and mental vigor throughout the war which brought 
our country into the family of nations, and he was followed 
in a later generation by this kinsman who rendered no less 
conspicuous service in the war that preserved and made us 
a united nation. 

In the hst of wounded and recovered in the Sixtieth New 
York, is the name of Corporal Leffert L, Buck of Company 
A. A brief notice of the career of this man may properly 
be given in this connection. In the summer of 1861, he left 
his class in St. Lawrence University and enhsted in the 
company organized in Canton by William B. Goodrich. 
Buck carried a musket as private and non-commissioned 
officer until June, 1864, when he was promoted first lieu- 
tenant, and in the following February, captain. He was 
mustered out of service at the close of the war, and entered 
The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from which he was 



Battle of Antietam 191 

graduated as a civil engineer. He has planned and con- 
structed some of the most important bridges in the world, 
and stands at the head of his profession in that branch of 
engineering. The Verrugas Viaduct and other bridges 
over streams and chasms in the Andes, South America, over 
the Columbia and other rivers in the States of the Pacific 
slope, the arch bridges at Niagara Falls, and the Williams- 
burg suspension Bridge over the East River, are some of 
the monuments of his professional skill. It is safe to say 
that no man of Northern New York has accomplished more 
in applying science to human needs, or won greater distinc- 
tion in promoting the welfare of the people among whom 
he has modestly labored, than Captain Leffert L. Buck. 
His name will be placed among the favored few, who, pos- 
sessing genius for invention and mechanical skill, are given 
first rank among the leaders of human progress. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

ON THE BATTLE FIELD AT NIGHT 

THE Sixteenth New York, after the cannonading at 
Antietam had ceased, was moved from its position 
and placed on picket. We were on ground over which 
both armies had advanced and retreated more than once 
during the day, as shown by a large number of the blue and 
the gray lying where they had fallen. In the evening twi- 
light the resting soldiers were indistinguishable, for pass- . 
ing comrades had spread blankets over them, under the 
common impulse which causes us to cover the faces of the 
dead from the sight of the living. As we advanced to our 
position, the enemy offered a slight opposition, but ceased 
firing as soon as he discovered we were a line of pickets 
and not a line of battle, unless we approached too near in 
our efforts to bring off the wounded. As the night advanced, 
the Confederate pickets permitted us to go nearer their lines 
to carry off those whose call would have softened the most 
obdurate heart. At midnight my company was relieved, 
retired a few paces, and slept on their arms. I went to the 
front, after the company had bivouacked, to bring to the 
surgeons such men as I could reach. Lieutenant William 
L. Best and others of the regiment were similarly employed. 
I first brought to the surgeons a soldier of the Third Dela- 
ware, badly wounded in the knee. Twenty years later, 
while riding on a train on the Pennsylvania Railroad, be- 
tween Baltimore and Philadelphia, I heard an old soldier 
tell to a traveling companion the incident of a comrade of 



On the Battle Field at Night 193 

his having been carried from the field at Antietam. He 
closed the recital by saying that his friend, to the day of his 
death, which had recently occurred, had failed to find the 
man to whom he was indebted for his life. He said the 
beneficiary only knew "that he was a tall captain from 
New York." 

Lieutenant Best brought in a sufferer about the time I 
delivered the Delawarean, and as we went out again he said 
to me "Captain, just beyond where I found the one I last 
brought to the surgeons, is a man who plaintively repeats 
something that I do not understand, except that he said he 
was the son of a widow. I will show you where he is." I 
followed Best's directions, and carried to the surgeon a 
seriously wounded soldier. When given stimulants, he 
speedily revived and thanked all for their kindness, saying 
he had but one regret, "that he could not die under the 
flag he fought for." The next day, referring to the incident. 
Best said, " Captain you took great chances last night in bring- 
ing off that wounded Confederate. Was he a Mason?" I 
replied, "I did not ask him but your statement that he was 
a widow's son caused me to suspect that he was," At all 
events he was a fellow-countryman, mortally wounded, and 
lived less than an hour after he was delivered to the surgeons. 

Later, and when nearer the enemy's lines than before, 
I was an interested witness of actions, which have exerted 
a strong influence in making me more tolerant of the views 
of those whose faith and practices differ from my own. 
Bom and reared under the rigid rules of New England 
protestantism, never too tolerant, though growing more so 
as generations come and go, I did not expect to see kindly 
attention paid to an outsider by the representative of a sect 
which I had been taught to believe were for their church 
first and last, recognizing no other. I saw a man kneeling 
beside a wounded soldier, whose feeble moans indicated 



194 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

that he was near the end. "What," said the kneeling man, 
"can I do for you?" "Nothing I fear, I am dying." The 
visitor said, "Are you prepared to die, have you faith in 
Him who alone can save you?" The dying soldier gave an 
affirmative reply, and named an evangelical church of which 
he had been a member from his youth. "I hope it is well 
with you, I am a clergyman and will gladly pray for you." 
"Please do," whispered the soldier. The clergyman prayed 
for the man who had given his Hfe for his country. 

Later, and still nearer the enemy's hnes, I came again 
upon this clergyman just as he approached a man who was 
crying in bitterness of spirit that he had sinned away the 
day of grace, and must now go down to perdition. "No, 
my friend," said the clergyman, "it is not too late, if you ^vill 
confess your sins, ask for forgiveness, and put your trust in 
Him who alone can save you. I am a priest of the Roman 
CathoUc Church and will give you absolution on your ful- 
filHng the requirements of the church." To the one who 
had tried to follow his Master's teachings he gave appro- 
bation and encouragement with a brother's unction. To 
the one without creed or hope he gave the consolation of the 
church of which he was a devoted priest. I asked the 
name of the man who had gone forth on this battle-field in 
the late watches of the night, regardless of imminent danger, 
to minister to those passing beyond human aid, and was 
told he was Francis McAtee, chaplain of the Thirty-first 
New York. From that night he held a warm place in my 
heart, and will again be referred to in later chapters. 

It was now 2 o'clock in the morning; the enemy disputed 
our nearer approach to his lines to assist the suffering. The 
fatigue of the march of twelve miles from our camp, the 
movements on the field under artillery fire and the two hours 
spent in searching for the wounded, all imperatively sug- 
gested the need of rest and sleep. I rejoined my company, 



On the Battle Field at Night 195 

and, as I had brought no blanket upon the field, thought I 
would share that of one of my men, and quietly backed under 
the side of the blanket of a sleeping soldier and presently 
went to sleep. Awakening at dayhght and finding it time to 
call my company, I spoke to my host, and, getting no response, 
put my hand on his shoulder to arouse him. As he re- 
mained motionless I turned back the blanket, and saw a dead 
Confederate. I had enjoyed three or four hours of refresh- 
ing sleep, made comfortable by the warm blanket that 
covered us, but the chill I got from looking on my quiet 
bedfellow was greater, I beheve, than I would have taken 
had I slept that cold night with nothing over me but the 
stars. 

The morning of the i8th found both armies in the posi- 
tions they had held respectively the night before, and there 
they remained without changing position throughout the 
day. At dayhght on the 19th, our pickets advanced and 
found that the enemy had retired during the night. Gen- 
eral Pleasonton's cavalry immediately started in pursuit, 
followed by the Fifth Corps and found, on reaching the 
Potomac, that Lee's army had crossed into Virginia and 
that his artillery was posted on the right bank to defend the 
fords. Porter advanced skirmishers and sharpshooters to 
the banks of the river and of the canal, and with the aid 
of his reserve artillery soon drove the enemy's cannoneers 
from their guns and silenced his infantry fire. General 
Griffin, with an attacking party of volunteers from the Fourth 
Michigan, the One Hundred and Eighteenth Pennsylvania, 
the Eighteenth and the Twenty- second Massachusetts, crossed 
the river and scaled the heights. The result of the day's 
operations was the capture of five pieces of artillery with 
some equipments, four hundred stand of arms, and a battle- 
flag. At 7 A.M. on the 20th, Porter sent Morell's and Sykes's 
divisions across the Potomac and pushed them forward 



196 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

until 8 A.M., when, meeting the enemy in large force, our 
troops retired, recrossed the river and took position under 
the shelter of the canal. 

The forenoon of September 19th the Sixteenth spent in 
searching the field for the dead and wounded belonging to 
other Northern New York regiments. All had been brought 
off by the men of their own organizations, except the body of 
Lieutenant Colonel John L. Stetson, Fifty-ninth New York. 
Major FrankHn Palmer with members of Stetson's old Com- 
pany E, Sixteenth, searched the field and found his body 
near the most advanced position reached that day by our 
troops. His regiment was in Sedgwick's division of the Sec- 
ond Corps, and, when flanked on both sides, was ordered 
to retire by General Sumner. In falling back, Colonel 
Stetson was doing his best to preserve the alignment of his 
regiment and gave his last order, ''Rally on your colors," 
when he received the fatal shot. As the regiment was sharply 
pressed he was left where he fell. I quote from a letter of 
Major Palmer, written from the field: 

" I found the body lying in the centre of the woods surrounded 
by the dead of his regiment, showing the fearful struggle which 
took place at that point and how bravely the men fought before 
falling back before vastly superior numbers. He lay on a rocky 
ridge, two of the largest and noblest trees standing on either side 
of him, — God's sentinels for God's dead. His features were as 
placid as in sleep. He was not killed instantly, and may have 
lived an hour or more after being hit. A slip of paper pinned to 
his shirt, marked "Colonel Stetson, New York," must have been 
placed there by one of the enemy at his request. His conduct 
in the face of the deadly fire which broke and drove back the line 
was brave and noble in the extreme." 



On the afternoon of the 19th, Slocum's division marched 
to the Potomac and guarded the bank opposite Shepherds- 



On the Battle Field at Night 197 

town until midnight of the 20th, when it made a forced march 
to Williamsport. Here it remained until the 23rd, when 
it moved to Bakersville, near which it camped until it joined 
in the general advance into Virginia. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE ARMY AT BAKERSVILLE 

THIS chapter will be introduced by extracts from letters 
of Lieutenant Walling, of the sixteenth. He writes 
September 29, 1862: 

"We are now encamped, one and one-half miles from Bakers- 
ville, by the side of a clear brook on which, a little distance below 
us, is a grist mill from which our messes obtain flour. This is 
the richest and most beautiful section of Maryland. The val- 
leys are well cultivated and the soil is very rich, as indicated by 
the many stacks of hay and grain which the large barns cannot 
hold. Here apples, pears, peaches, plums and quinces are 
grown in abundance. More than this, one discovers in his wan- 
derings a devotion to the old flag which is heartfelt, and the 
soldier feels he is among friends. He finds it easy to add to his 
army ration of bacon, hard-tack and coffee, a boiled potato, a little 
apple sauce, a pat of butter, and genuine milk for his tin cup of 
coffee, and these comforts cause him to feel renewed confidence 
in his surroundings, and greater hope in the final success of his 
labors. It is no wonder that General Lee and his army longed 
for the sight of the well filled granaries, and sighed for the rich 
fruitage of Maryland and Pennsylvania, after the dreary marches 
and counter marches in battle-scarred Virginia. He came to 
liberate Maryland from the despotism of the Lincoln govern- 
ment. What must have been his chagrin when none of the 
inhabitants rushed to his standard! McClellan pursued him so 
closely that he could not forage, and finally whipped and drove 
him back to the 'sacred soil of old Virginia.' Lee's greatest 



The Army at Bakersville 199 

achievement was the capture of Harper's Ferry from an irreso- 
lute commander, with its garrison of eleven thousand men and 
large quantities of ordnance, quartermaster and commissary 
stores. The haversacks of his dead, which we found on the 
battle-field of Antietam, were filled with provisions captured at 
Harper's Ferry. But all these captures went only a short way 
in compensating hrtn for his losses at South Mountain, Cramp- 
ton's Pass and Antietam. 

"Some of our army look for orders to move, others say we will 
go into winter-quarters, but that does not seem probable; yet 
the old army is so depleted that it is in no condition to battle 
successfully against the enemy at this time. It would be vain 
to expect to win batdes with new troops. In the late engagements 
the enemy fought desperately." 

He writes again on October 4th: 

"I see you are impatient and feel as many do in the North that 
McClellan should move on the rebels. I think the army will 
move when our noble general gets ready, and you will admit that 
it will be plenty soon enough. There are many new troops in 
the field and others are joining us daily. Quartermaster stores 
are scarce, shoes and clothing are needed, and until they are fur- 
nished we will be in no condition to move. 

"These cold nights our boys really suffer. One just told me 
that there are five men in his tent and all the covering they have 
is one blanket. Our blankets were stored in Alexandria when 
we came from the Peninsula. The weather is so cold I have worn 
my overcoat all day. There are but three tents to a regiment, 
which are occupied by the field and staff, and one tent fly for the 
officers of each company." 

An extract from a letter written by Corporal Cyrus R. 
Stone, Company F, now a prominent civil engineer in Min- 
nesota, to his uncle. Counsellor B. H. Vary, gives the enlisted 
man's side of the situation: 



200 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

"Since we came into Maryland we have had Httle opportunity 
to obtain paper or time to write letters. Our knapsacks were 
left in Alexandria and we have no way of carrying writing mate- 
rials or even a change of underclothing. Many times our men 
have gone to the banks of streams, where each would wash his 
only shirt, then stand with coat buttoned up to watch it dry. Often 
it has been necessary to put shirts and socks on wet, when the 
word would come, ' hurry up boys, put your things on wet or dry, 
we have orders to march.' Thus we have lived since we left 
Harrison's Landing, only twice remaining two successive nights in 
the same camp until we reached this one. I have twenty-five 
cents of my last pay left, and that will be expended for stationery 
and stamps as soon as the sutler comes up." 



On the first day of October, President Lincoln was escorted 
by General McClellan and staff through the different army 
corps. No attempt was made to give him a formal review, 
as his call was accepted as a visit, not an inspection; the 
soldiers were in no condition to pass in review and he re- 
cognized the fact. He saw the men who had come from the 
Peninsula and had been sent forward in great haste to Gen- 
eral Pope; some had reached him in time to join in the great 
battles fought by his army, and others had only reached 
Centreville in time to act as a rear guard to his disorgan- 
ized forces. These were the men who had entered upon the 
pursuit of Lee's army, driven it from Maryland, and in doing 
so had suffered great loss in numbers, but no loss in spirit 
and devotion to the cause in which they had enlisted. 

The most important event which occurred, while the regi- 
ment was encamped near Bakersville, was the resignation of 
Colonel Joseph Rowland, tendered on account of disabilities 
from wounds received in the battle of Gaines's Mill. This 
announcement was received with profound regret by the offi- 
cers and men of the Sixteenth, as well as by the commanders 



The Army at Bakersville 201 

of the brigade, division, corps and army, in which he had 
served and won the confidence and approbation of all by 
his meritorious conduct and conspicuous bravery in action. 

General Rowland, for he attained the rank of brigadier- 
general before the close of hostilities, came to the regiment 
a perfect stranger to every member; even the Colonel who 
invited him to accept the adjutancy did not know him. 
Colonel Davies tendered him that position on his staff at 
the suggestion of his brother, Professor Charles Davies, 
the mathematician, who, after retiring from the Military 
Academy at West Point, resided at Fishkill Landing, where 
he came to know the spirit and fibre of his neighbor, Joseph 
Rowland. Colonel Rowland won his way to the hearts and 
to the consideration of superiors and subordinates by the 
force of his natural qualities. Approachable, considerate of 
the rights of others, he permitted no infringement of his own. 
Quick to decide and prompt to execute, he held the regiment 
under a taut rein, and it never stumbled nor balked. Faithful 
to the discharge of every duty, he exacted prompt compli- 
ance from others. Conscious of the advantages to be derived 
from a strict observance of military etiquette, a dignified 
bearing, and an erect soldierly carriage, he cultivated by 
practice and precept those habits which promoted self re- 
spect and an esprit de corps among his men, tending mate- 
rially to increase their efficiency. Young himself, and fully 
recognizing the aggressive and irresistible power inherent 
in youth, he roused it and led his men forward to accom- 
plishments which the conservatism of middle age would 
not wilHngly have undertaken. These natural qualities, 
supplemented by the graces of a cultured Christian gen- 
tleman, made him an ideal soldier and an able commander. 

In leaving the regiment he did not relinquish interest in 
its operations or welfare. Long after his resignation, he 
continued to pay a bounty of twenty dollars to each recruit 



202 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

who joined it, in addition to all local, State and Federal 
bounties, in order that its ranks might be kept full and that 
it might maintain to the final muster-out the high reputation 
it had gained under his command. I found in the records 
and papers relating to the regiment, which Mrs. Rowland 
placed at my disposal while collecting material for this vol- 
ume, many evidences of his continued interest in the welfare 
of the members of the Sixteenth who applied to him after 
the war, and to no meritorious case did he turn a deaf ear. 

General Howland died at Mentone, France, April i, 1886, 
never having regained the strength lost by the wound re- 
ceived in the battle of Gaines's Mill, June 27, 1862. On 
the afternoon of Easter Sunday, the 25 th of the same month, 
memorial services were held in the Tioronda Sunday-school, 
on his own grounds, of which he was the superintendent. 
The Reverend George L. Prentiss, D.D., of New York, the 
general's intimate friend and colaborer in church work 
for thirty years, delivered the Memorial Address. I re- 
produce two of the testimonials read, first, one from New 
York's greatest soldier. Major General H. W. Slocum, on 
whose staff he had held an important and confidential posi- 
tion, and one from General J. J. Seaver, a field officer of the 
Sixteenth, who succeeded Colonel Howland in command. 

"No one of General Howland 's comrades knew him more in- 
timately than I did, and no one had reason to appreciate more 
keenly the value of his services. When I first met him he was 
Adjutant of the Sixteenth New York Volunteers. It was a po- 
sition in which he was exceedingly usful, but a brief acquaintance 
with him convinced me that he would be still more useful in a 
higher sphere. I persuaded him to accept the position of Ad- 
jutant-General and Chief of Stafif of the brigade then under my 
command. He served in this capacity during the darkest days 
of the war — the days spent in creating armies. The terrible battles 
and great victories came at a later period; but it was while General 



The Army at Bakersville 203 

Rowland served with me in the Army of the Potomac that that 
army was created, drilled, and disciplined for the great work 
before it. In this important work no man in his sphere did more 
valuable service than General Rowland. Had I been accorded 
the privilege of selecting from the officers of the regular army 
one skilled in his profession as a soldier, I do not believe I could 
have selected one who could have filled his position as well as 
did General Howland. 

"He was the possessor of an ample fortune and a happy home, 
and was impelled by a spirit of patriotism to leave all and endure 
the pains and privations of army life. He appreciated the troubles 
and hardships of the men who had left their homes for a place in 
the ranks of the private soldier, and he sympathized with them, 
but he realized the importance of thorough discipline, and was 
one of the best disciplinarians in the army. 

"He continued as my chief of staff until a vacancy in the colonelcy 
of the Sixteenth New York was created by the promotion of Gen- 
eral Davies. Then, at the unanimous demand of the officers 
and soldiers of his old regiment, he felt it to be his duty to return 
to it. 

"General Rowland's career as Colonel of the Sixteenth New 
York Volunteers, and the splendid record of that regiment, are 
matters of history known to all. The profound respect of the 
officers and soldiers of that regiment for General Howland, and 
their deep affection for him, are known only to these men them- 
selves, and to those closely associated with them. " 



"Captain Howland received his commission as Colonel of the 
Sixteenth Regiment in March or April, 1862, just as the army 
was preparing for its *on to Richmond' movement. This ap- 
pointment was hailed by the whole regiment — officers and men 
alike — with a heartiness born only of admiration and respect for 
a thoroughly good soldier and a noble man. Colonel Howland 
immediately applied himself to the duties of his position. The 
comfort and welfare of the men of his command were his first and 
constant care. Order and discipline were rigidly enforced, and 



204 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

prompt obedience to all requirements was but a natural outgrowth 
which sprang from the love an intelligent soldiery bore to an urbane 
and dignified chief. No ofi&cer in the service ever devoted him- 
self more unremittingly to the interests of his men than did 
Colonel Howland to the old Sixteenth. Possessed of abundant 
means, he provided for the regiment many luxuries and comforts 
which the government did not supply, for both camp and hos- 
pital, while his wife and her sister devoted themselves with un- 
tiring zeal to the care of the sick and the wants of those who were 
well, following, like ministering angels, the regiment and its 
fortunes wherever it marched and fought. 

"Colonel Howland commanded the regiment in the desperate 
battle of Gaines's Mill on the 27th of June, 1862, when on the 
extreme right of our line it charged the enemy, recapturing a 
battery which had been lost earlier in the day, and retained its 
position until the exhaustion of its ammunition and the final 
onset of 'Stonewall' Jackson forced it to retire as the sun was 
going down. Early in this engagement the lamented Lieutenant- 
Colonel Marsh was mortally wounded and borne from the field. 
At about the same time Colonel Howland received a severe wound, 
but continued to direct the movements of the regiment until it 
left the field. In this engagement, besides its colonel and lieu- 
tenant-colonel, the regiment lost in killed and wounded 260 
men, rank and file — fully one-quarter of its effective force on 
that day. No battle-scarred veteran ever bore himself with 
higher valor or inspired his command with more heroic bravery 
than did Colonel Howland on this occasion. Brave, without 
rashness, he was at his post where danger was thickest. With 
an intrepidity that seemed to defy death, he led his men on the 
field and remained with them so long as there was hope. . . . 

"In physique Colonel Howland was not strong, and was thereby 
unfitted for the life of a soldier. His early education and training, 
received under the care of the best masters, had, however, strength- 
ened his constitution, and developed a mind of unusual clear- 
ness and of great power. His executive ability was of a high order, 
and in the administration of affairs he had few equals. He 
possessed a high sense of honor and a clear and quick conception 



The Army at Bakersville 205 

of right and wrong. In the right he was inflexible. No art, 
device, or subterfuge could so gloss the wrong that it would evade 
his keen detection and stern rebuke. This trait in his character 
was prominent, and no one could approach him without feeling 
that he was in the presence of a noble man." 

In a resolution on the death of General Howland, adopted 
by the surviving members of the regiment at its first reunion, 
held at Potsdam, N. Y., Sept. i, 1886, they express the pro- 
found respect and affection with which they cherish his 
memory. They also tender their heart-felt sympathy to 
Mrs. Howland, with the assurance that "her sorrow can only 
be greater than theirs, who knew and loved him so well." 

On October 6th, the Sixteenth and the other regiments 
of Bartlett's brigade were greatly pleased to receive the 
announcement that President Lincoln had finally acted upon 
the repeated recommendation of Colonel Joseph J. Bart- 
lett's superior officers, and had promoted him to be a brig- 
adier-general. General Bartlett had recruited a company 
on the proclamation of Governor Morgan, calling for volun- 
teers to fill New York's quota under the first call of the Presi- 
dent, and on the organization of the Twenty-seventh New 
York regiment was chosen major. On the promotion of 
Colonel Henry W. Slocum, Bartlett succeeded him in the 
command of the Twenty-seventh New York, and, on Slo- 
cum's advancement to the command of the First Division 
of the Sixth Corps at West Point, Virginia, Bartlett followed 
Slocum in command of the Second Brigade. In all the bat- 
tles in which the Sixth Corps participated in the Peninsula 
campaign, the advance to Centreville to join Pope's army, 
the Maryland campaign, the battle of Crampton's Pass, 
where he was conspicuous for coolness and personal bravery, 
and in the later operations of the brigade connected with 
the expulsion of Lee's army from Maryland, he won the 



2o6 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

respect and warm regard of his brigade, and the high con- 
sideration of his superiors. His promotion was felt to be 
a recognition of his personal worth, and of the services 
of the men he had led into and through so many hot 
engagements. 

On the evening of the 9th of October, the commissioned 
officers of the Sixteenth present with the regiment, with the 
exception of Lieutenant- Colonel Seaver and Major Palmer, 
met to take steps, in accordance with the practice initiated 
by Colonel Davies, to elect a colonel to fill the vacancy 
caused by the resignation of Colonel Howland. Captain 
N. M. Curtis was chosen chairman, and Acting Second Lieu- 
tenant D. A. Nevin, secretary; Adjutant R. P. Wilson and 
Captain I. T. Merry were appointed a committee to invite 
Lieutenant-Colonel J. J. Seaver and Major Franklin Palmer 
to attend. This invitation was declined, with the request 
that the acting lieutenants be permitted to vote. 

The meeting consisted of the following named officers: 
Surgeon W. B. Crandall and Adjutant R. P. Wilson; Cap- 
tains G. Parker, J. C. Gilmore, N. M. Curtis, W. W. Wood, 
P. L. Van Ness, Pliny Moore, and I. T. Merry; Lieutenants 
A. M. Barney, C. H. Bentley, H. T. Sanford, W. L. Best, 

C. M. Hilliker, W. H. WalHng; and Acting Lieutenants 

D. A. Nevin, A. Dodge, A. C. Bayne, S. M. Gleason and 
W. H. Jamison. Two informal ballots were taken. On the 
first, Major Palmer received seven and Captain Gihnore 
eleven votes, two blanks; on the second, Major Palmer re- 
ceived six and Captain Gilmore thirteen, one blank; on the 
third and formal ballot. Major Palmer received three and 
Captain Gilmore fifteen, two blanks; Captain Gilmore was 
then declared unanimously elected. The proceedings were 
approved by General J. J. Bartlett, commanding brigade, 
and General H. W. Slocum, commanding division, and were 
forwarded to Governor Edwin D. Morgan. The officers 



The Army at Bakersville 207 

patiently awaited developments, and about the 4th of Decem- 
ber anxiety and suspense were ended by the receipt, at 
regimental headquarters, of a commission for Joel J. Seaver 
as colonel, whereupon Colonel Seaver nominated Major 
Franklin Palmer for lieutenant-colonel and Captain John 
C. Gihnore for major. 

The meeting of October 9th, one of the notable events 
in the history of the regiment, was held at the suggestion of 
General Bartlett. His decision was brought to the officers 
by Adjutant R. P. Wilson, Acting Assistant Adjutant- 
General on his staff. In view of the high commendation he 
had given Major Seaver for his conduct in commanding 
the regiment after Colonel Rowland was disabled by wounds 
and Lieutenant-Colonel Marsh mortally wounded, it was 
generally expected that he would advise the promotion of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Seaver, but he declined to recommend 
any one not endorsed by the officers, and the meeting was 
held with the result stated. 

This ended all efforts in the Sixteenth to select officers 
by the votes of those over whom they were to exercise com- 
mand. The Act of April 16, 1861, provided; "that the 
governor shall prescribe such rules and regulations as he 
may deem proper, to carry out the provisions of section two, 
article eleven, of the state constitution," which provided that, 
"Militia officers shall be chosen as follows: Captains, sub- 
alterns and non-commissioned officers shall be chosen by 
the written votes of the members of their respective com- 
panies; Field officers of regiments and separate battalions 
by the written votes of the commissioned officers of the 
respective regiments, and separate battalions." While 
the regiment was in Albany these provisions of the law, 
under which the first thirty-eight regiments were organized, 
were strictly complied with, and, after it arrived at Washing- 
ton, the Adjutant- General of the State requested Colonel 



2o8 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Davies to forward to his office a certified return of the elec- 
tion of Captain Tapley, vice Pomeroy resigned, before he 
would issue Tapley's commission. The second clause of 
section two, Act of April i6, 1861, provided, "when any 
vacancy shall occur among such volunteers while they are 
absent from the state, the governor is hereby authorized 
and empowered to appoint and commission the requisite 
officers to fill vacancies," and, in time, the governor com- 
missioned officers in regiments in the field without requiring 
certified returns of their election. 

Having referred to the law authorizing the steps taken by 
the officers, I will quote extracts from letters of Colonel Seaver 
to Colonel Howland. On September 20th, he writes: 

"I want to see you again at the helm of your regiment, not 
that the labor is too much for, or at all distasteful to me, but that 
I know you will do so much better and keep the men in better 
spirits. I hope you will not indulge in any expectation of having 
your resignation accepted. You will be able to come back when 
the flesh comes to your bones again, the strength to your 
frame, and when the sun has gone a little further to the south, 
so that the north winds can come down with you. Until then 
I shall hold everything in abeyance, and if you do not return, 
I shall be strongly tempted to seek the quiet of domestic life 
myself. . . . 

"Should we be compelled to submit to any further promotions 
above the rank of captain, I hope Captain Gilmore will not be 
overlooked. He is really the most deserving man in the regi- 
ment, now that you are not here." 

October loth he writes again: 

"The election rampage of Camp Franklin has broken out again 
among the officers of the regiment, and scenes of last winter have 
been re-enacted in part. Twelve officers and eight sergeants, 
recommended for promotion, held an election for colonel, and 



The Army at Bakersville 209 

after several ballots very wisely declared Captain Gilmore their 
unanimous choice. I expect Generals Bartlett and Slocum will 
endorse this choice and recommend the appointment of Captain 
Gilmore. I regret somewhat that the offense of their first elec- 
tion of a major is not to be pardoned. But while I might feel 
complimented by a further promotion, however much I may dis- 
trust my own abilities, I can only rejoice that the choice has fallen 
upon a good man, who I trust will be able to retain the confi- 
dence of a too capricious few, who must bewail their own fortune 
in the absence of any hope of preferment." . . . 



Colonel Seaver's estimate of Gilmore's qualifications was 
that of the officers taking part in the election, and the excel- 
lent record made by Gilmore, during the more than forty 
years that he has now served in the volunteers and in the 
regular army of the United States, has furnished ample proof 
of his capacity and fitness. He was transferred by promo- 
tion from the line to the general staff, — has held important 
positions requiring expert knowledge and rare tact, and on 
reaching the age limit was placed on the retired list with the 
rank of a brigadier-general. 

The meeting at Camp Franklin in November, 1861, to 
which Lieutenant-Colonel Seaver refers, was held under the 
express orders of Colonel Da vies, and, had no further action 
been taken by the colonel than the mere calling of the meet- 
ing and announcing its object, it was thought that Captain 
Franklin Palmer would have been selected, but Colonel 
Davies stated to the officers that he desired them to name 
Captain Seaver. What has remained a mystery is the reason 
why the meeting was called at all, and why the colonel 
should have directed other officers to be voted for when he 
openly stated his choice. His wishes were compHed with, 
and might have been made known to the Governor of the 
State without an election in which he virtually instructed 



2IO 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



the electors. It was well known that Captain Seaver nad 
a friend, the Honorable William A. Wheeler, whose influence 
with the Washington authorities was especially desired at 
that time by Colonel Davies. Mr. Wheeler exerted a pow- 
erful influence in the councils of Governor Morgan, and 
when on his way to Washington to take his seat in Congress, 
he called on the governor and caused the commission of 
Colonel Joel J. Seaver to be promptly forwarded. It was 
not difficult for him to satisfy the governor that one who had 
successfully commanded the regiment for over four months, 
and in several important engagements, in a manner to secure 
the commendation of his superiors, was certainly qualified 
to continue in command until mustered out. It may be 
said in this connection that the influence of men prominent 
in civil life was often prejudicial to military efficiency; but 
it is safe to say that, had all those who held positions through 
such influence been as competent as Colonel Seaver, the 
army would have been better officered than it was. 

The application of the foregoing provisions of the Consti- 
tution relating to militia organizations, to the officering of 
troops engaged in actual military operations, was most 
vicious. Its observance tended to demoraUze every com- 
mand in which it was practised. The essence of a soldier's 
oath of enlistment, is, "to obey the lawful orders of the offi- 
cers appointed over him," and nothing could be more ab- 
surd than to authorize him to have a voice in their selec- 
tion. An army cannot be organized on the plans and prin- 
ciples of a representative civil government. Nor can an 
army be a deUberative body, and every effort to retain the 
slightest vestige of the right of representation violates the 
autocratic principle which must prevail in a properly organ- 
ized army. This opinion is based on a large experience in 
a wide field of action, and will be endorsed, I doubt not, 
by every thoughtful man who has seen service in the field, 



The Army at Bakersville 211 

from the intelligent private behind the gun to the general- 
in-chief, through the wisdom of whose judgment victories 
are won, or, lacking wisdom, defeats are sustained. 

Chaplain Millar had been absent on sick leave from the 
arrival of the regiment at Harrison's Landing, and no relig- 
ious services had been held except those conducted by Chap- 
lain Adams of the Fifth Maine, who had visited our sick, 
buried our dead and preached once or twice. After establish- 
ing our camp at Bakersville, I requested Lieutenant-Colonel 
Seaver to invite Father McAtee, chaplain of the Thirty- 
first New York, to preach to the regiment. This he was at 
first disincHned to do, but, when I told him of the priest's 
labors on the battle-field of Antietam, he relented so far as 
to permit me to invite him in his name, but stipulated that 
I should superintend the services, as he would not be there. 
The invitation was extended on behalf of the colonel, and 
the priest came one Sunday afternoon when the sun was 
pouring down the heat of a mid-summer day. He had re- 
cently sufi"ered from a partial sun-stroke, and asked as he 
walked from his quarters whether the services were to be 
held in a tent or under a tree. I informed him that we had 
no tent, and as for "God's first temples" the woodsmen had 
long before destroyed all within the lines of our camp. 
Then he said, "I fear I shall be prostrated if I attempt to 
stand in this fierce sunhght." I recalled the fact that I had 
seen a civilian visitor in our camp carrying an umbrella, 
and I assured him I could furnish a canopy but not an altar, 
and, having obtained the visitor's umbrella, I stood behind 
the priest throughout the service, and sheltered him from the 
sun's rays. He led the singing of selections from our army 
hymn book and gave us a most excellent sermon. 

We had in the regiment one of those impressionable men 
who found his greatest delight in attending what he called 
"preaching by a spiritually-minded man, powerful in prayer 



212 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



and earnest in exhortation," and who was withal such a great 
bigot that he thought the members of his church were of 
the elect, and all others doomed to perdition. Meeting this 
man on my way to bring the priest, I said to him, "we are 
to have a sermon this afternoon by a new minister, and I 
wish you would pay particular attention and report to me 
after the service if you regard him as suitable for an army 
chaplain." My man, who daily called down blessings upon 
"the true believers and none others," was there, and sat in 
rapt attention throughout the service. Later he came to me 
and said, "Captain, that minister you held the umbrella 
over to-day is one of the elect. He is filled with the grace of 
God. If we could get him to stay with us, I am sure he 
would bring every sinner to repentance." I asked my 
enthusiastic behever in the "few chosen" if he could tell to 
what church or religious society his favorite preacher be- 
longed. "Methodist of course, that's plain to any one." 
His surprise was great when told that the man, whose sermon 
had appealed to him so strongly, belonged to the church 
which he thought contained no good. He confessed his 
belief in a personal devil who took upon himself all forms, 
won through deceit, was filling his kingdom with a vast 
multitude who would not see the right way and accept the 
true faith, taught only in the church to which be belonged. 
His mind was so well settled on the question of the exist- 
ence of the arch-fiend, that he might have been taken for a 
lineal descendant of that antiquarian of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, who chided a party of young men for applying oppro- 
brious epithets to the prince of darkness, and said, "Young 
gentlemen, you ought to speak more respectfully of the fourth 
person of the 'Trinity.'" 

October 14th was a sad day in the Sixteenth. I quote 
from a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Seaver to Colonel 
Rowland, dated October 22nd: 



The Army at Bakersville 213 

**By General Orders No. 162, Army of the Potomac, 229 
names were dropped from our rolls, including the poor fellows 
who were wounded at Gaines's MiU,and all the victims of the 
Peninsula diseases, and all absentees, except those wounded 
at Crampton's Pass and Antietam and the detailed and detached 
men. Such was the written interpretation of the order at brigade 
headquarters. To-day twenty of these returned; I have drawn 
rations for them and made application to have them restored 
to the rolls, which I doubt not will be granted." 



A proper construction of General Orders No. 162 w^ould 
have required the dropping of less than two per cent, of those 
actually dropped under the construction given from head- 
quarters of the brigade. Of the 229 names sent forward to 
army headquarters some were dead from w^ounds, others 
discharged on account of w^ounds and disabilities incurred in 
the service, whose names the surgeons in charge of general 
hospitals had failed to report to the captains of companies. 
It is worth remembering that of the entire number dropped 
on the 14th of October, every man, not dead or discharged 
by authority, rejoined the regiment, except four, and two 
of those died soon after they returned home. The injustice 
of the order as construed will be illustrated by a single case, 
and many others might be given. J. Harvey Winslow went 
out as second corporal of Company D, was promoted ser- 
geant, and in the battle of Gaines's Mill carried the United 
States colors and, when prostrated by wounds, held the 
colors aloft until seized by another. His gallantry was 
recognized by recommendation for promotion to a lieu- 
tenancy, but his wounds prevented his early return, and 
while convalescing he was informed that he was dropped 
from the rolls of his company and could return home. He 
spumed the suggestion and, as soon as able to leave 
the hospital, rejoined his company, having lost his 



214 Bull R"^ to Chancellorsville 

non-commissioned officer's warrant from no fault except his 
not being immune to the enemy's bullets. He carried a gun 
in the ranks until the final muster out of the regiment. No 
promotion could add lustre to the bravery and fidelity to 
duty of Sergeant Winslow. He deserved a substantial recog- 
nition for his valor, but lost it through disabilities incurred 
in performing a most honorable duty, that of carrying his 
country's flag in battle. 

On October i6th, the regimental mail brought to me a 
commission as lieutenant-colonel, One Hundred and Forty- 
second New York, which I immediately carried to General 
Slocum, and announced to him my intention of declining the 
appointment. I found him shaking hands with officers of 
the division, who had called to bid him good-bye on the 
occasion of his leaving to assume command of the Twelfth 
Corps. When I got the opportunity to state the object of 
my call he said, "No, you must not do that; I started the 
movement to secure you a regiment ; and my friend, who took 
an interest in the matter at my request, failed to secure favor- 
able action on your selection by the senatorial committee, 
and you must take what is offered. I have signed the order 
announcing my transfer from the division but will, before 
leaving, sign your pass to go to Washington to accept pro- 
motion. We will leave the Sixth Corps the same day, and 
I hope to have you and your regiment under my command." 

The officers and men felt the keenest regret on the occa- 
sion of General Slocum's leaving them, though rejoicing 
in his advancement. He entered the war as colonel of the 
Twenty-seventh New York, and rose by steady steps to the 
command of an army, and on Sherman's march to the sea 
commanded the left wing of his consolidated armies. Few 
equalled, and no other surpassed, him in the successful per- 
formance of the duties of the various positions to which he 
was assigned. 



The Army at Bakersville 215 

We had no picket duty while encamped near Bakersville; 
light guards were mounted daily and drills were resumed. 
The army began moving on October 25th, and at Berlin 
crossed the Potomac into Virginia. The Sixteenth left its 
camp with the Sixth Corps at 6 o'clock a.m., October 31st, 
and encamped near the battle-field of Crampton's Pass, giv- 
ing an opportunity to visit our wounded comrades in the hos- 
pital at Burkettsville, which many improved. On the 3rd of 
November, the regiment crossed the Potomac and marched 
up the Loudoun Valley. I give an extract from Lieuten- 
ant WalHng's letter of November 6th: 

"You would like to know our whereabouts. We are near 
White Plains on the Manassas Gap Railroad, fifteen miles west 
of Manassas Junction, having marched seven days since we left 
our Maryland camp. The weather has been fine and the roads 
could not be better. Last night was the coldest of the season, 
and ice covers the surface of still waters. No soldiers were 
frozen, but many good rails were used to keep us warm. Every 
time the army moves the desolation of Virginia is increased. 
The beautiful valley between the Blue Ridge and Bull Run Moun- 
tains looks now as though the wolf, should the war continue, 
will possess it for a home, without the fear of man. Farmers 
residing within twenty miles of the Potomac have sown fall wheat, 
but those west of this section have hardly turned a fiurow or sown 
a kernel. Acres of arable land have grown up to weeds, mead- 
ows have not been mowed, and seldom do we see horses, cattle, 
sheep, pigs or poultry. Captain Parker, acting commissary, 
was directed to procvire beef for General Smith's division of our 
corps. He found a pair of oxen the owner of which offered him 
$300 not to take them away, but he received a receipt for his 
oxen, which will be paid for by the government on proof of loy- 
alty. 

"The soldiers are feeling well, never more hopeful and buoy- 
ant than at present. We do not know where or when we will 
meet the enemy, but believe our generals do, and we know the 



2i6 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

army was never in a more vigorous condition to give battle than 
now. Since entering on this campaign we have not seen a rebel, 
the cavalry having pursued them far in advance of our infantry 
column. It is 6 p.m. and the first snow of the winter is falling." 

The regiment remained in this camp for two days, snow 
falling most of the time, and on the 9th marched to New 
Baltimore. On the loth. General McClellan, relieved from 
the command of the Army of the Potomac, and accompan- 
ied by General Burnside, his successor, rode through the 
camps of the several army corps, receiving the most enthu- 
siastic proofs from the rank and file of their warm regard for 
and confidence in the ability of their organizer and first 
commander. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG 

WHEN General McClellan relinquished command of 
the Army of the Potomac, its several corps were 
located as follows: — 

The First, Second and Fifth Corps, Reserve Artillery, 
and general headquarters were at Warrenton; the Sixth 
Corps, at New Baltimore; the Ninth Corps, with Stoneman's 
and Whipple's division of the Third Corps, on the Rappa- 
hannock near Waterloo; the Eleventh Corps, at New 
Baltimore, Gainesville, and Thoroughfare Gap; Sickles's 
division of the Third Corps on the Orange and Alexandria 
Railroad, from Manassas Junction to Warrenton Junction; 
Pleasonton's cavalry, south of the Rappahannock at Amiss- 
ville and Jefferson, with pickets at Hazel River, facing Long- 
street's corps; Bayard's cavalry, near Rappahannock Station, 
and the Twelfth Corps, at Harper's Ferry, 

Of the condition of the Army of the Potomac, and the loca- 
tion of the Confederate army on the 9th of November, Gen- 
eral McClellan makes this statement : 

"I doubt whether, during the whole period that I had the 
honor to command the Army of the Potomac, it was in such 
excellent condition to fight a great battle. When I gave up the 
command to General Bumside, the best information in our 
possession indicated that Longstreet was immediately in our 
front near Culpeper; Jackson, with one, perhaps both, of the 
Hills, near Chester and Thornton's Gap, with the mass of 
their forces west of the Blue Ridge." 



2i8 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

General McClellan had crossed into Virginia from his 
Maryland campaign under instructions of October 13th, 
from the President, requiring him to march near enough to 
the Blue Ridge to observe its passes, and to engage Lee in 
battle, should opportunity offer while pursuing him towards 
Richmond. General Burnside, on assuming command 
of the army, proposed to abandon the pursuit of Lee, 
and to move on the north side of the Rappahannock 
to Falmouth, and establish his base of supplies at Aquia 
Creek. 

As General Halleck refused to approve of Burnside's 
plan to change his base, Burnside then proposed to cross the 
fords of the Upper Rappahannock and march down and 
seize the heights south of Fredericksburg. General Hal- 
leck returned to Washington and submitted the proposed plan 
to the President, to which he assented, without approving 
it. On receiving authority to adopt this last plan, Burnside 
proceeded to reorganize the army instead of advancing against 
the enemy. He formed three Grand Divisions; the Right, 
under the command of General Sumner, consisted of the 
Second Corps under General Couch, and the Ninth Corps 
under General Willcox; the Centre Grand Division, under 
General Hooker, consisted of the Third Corps under Gen- 
eral Stoneman, and the Fifth Corps under General Butter- 
field; the Left Grand Division, under General Franklin, 
consisted of the First Corps under General Reynolds, and 
the Sixth Corps under General W. F. Smith. 

On the 15th, Sumner's Grand Division marched, not across 
the Rappahannock to occupy the heights south of Fredericks- 
burg, but on the north side of the Rappahannock to Fal- 
mouth. On the next day, Hooker's and Franklin's Grand 
Divisions followed Sumner, and, on the 20th, Burnside 
had his army where he had first proposed to move it, notwith- 
standing the fact that the general-in-chief had disapproved 



Battle of Fredericksburg 219 

the movement, and that the President had assented to quite 
a different plan. 

The itinerary of the Sixteenth New York will show some 
of the hardships endured by the Army of the Potomac on this 
memorable march. The regiment left its camp at New 
Baltimore early on the i6th, and, marching to Catlett's 
Station, bivouacked for the night near the place where it 
had camped three days in April, when the ground was cov- 
ered with snow and the apple trees were in blossom. The 
next morning it resumed its march, and at 11 o'clock p.m. 
of the 1 8th, arrived, in a drizzling rain, at Stafford Court 
House. During the two weeks that the regiment remained 
at this place, it furnished fatigue parties to repair the road 
toAquia Creek, our new base of supplies, and those not serv- 
ing on these details were employed in building fireplaces 
in the tents, and making the camp as comfortable as pos- 
sible. Here Thanksgiving Day was spent, and not a few 
additions were made to our army rations. On December 
4th, at daylight, the regiment marched eight miles to White 
Oak Church. While the tents were being raised Chaplain 
Francis B. Hall reported at headquarters. It is certain 
that he never, in his long pastorate, took charge of a con- 
gregation less presentable, or in more dismal surroundings, 
than the one he found that night, but he proved equal to all 
emergencies. 

No member of Bartlett's brigade will ever forget the 5th 
of December and its hard experiences, which tested patience 
and physical endurance to the extremest tension. The regi- 
ments were ordered out in a severe rain storm which soon 
changed to snow with a biting wind, with instructions to find 
a new camp. After marching some distance a suitable 
site was selected, and the men began putting up tents, when 
orders were given "to move on," and on they marched four 
miles to Belle Plain, a barren and dreary spot exposed to the 



220 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

winds from all quarters, without a single tree to shelter or 
furnish fuel. A facetious soldier said, with chattering teeth, 
"Belle Plain, is it called? The first and last letter of the 
descriptive word should be dropped, then a cockney would 
pronounce it correctly." The regiment was very soon moved 
into a wood, the tents were put up and the men made them- 
selves quite comfortable, although the cold was so intense that 
ice formed thick enough to bear a man. In this camp the 
regiment remained, doing fatigue and picket duty, until 
called out to march to the Rappahannock on the loth, to 
begin the operations against Fredericksburg. 

Before daylight on the nth of December, the Left Grand 
Division marched to the Rappahannock and waited for the 
pontoon bridges to be laid, one and one-half miles below 
Fredericksburg. Two were completed at ii a.m., and 
orders were received at 4 p.m. to cross to the south side; but 
these orders were soon modified, directing only one brigade 
to remain on the south side to guard the bridge heads, and 
all other troops were returned to the north bank. At day- 
light on the morning of the 12th, Frankhn's Grand Division 
began crossing in the face of a body of sharp shooters occu- 
pying infantry-trenches near the bank of the river; these 
were promptly captured or driven away, and at i p.m. all 
of the Left Division was on the south side. The First Corps, 
with its left resting on the river, extended south, joining the 
Sixth Corps which extended westward to the eastern limits 
of Fredericksburg. The laying of the pontoon bridges 
on the nth opposite to Fredericksburg, for the crossing of 
the Right Grand Division, was sharply contested, and the 
town was bombarded for an hour without clearing the way; 
the Seventh Michigan, and the Nineteenth and the Twentieth 
Massachusetts regiments then crossed in pontoon boats to 
the south side, under a sharp fire, and drove the enemy's 
sharp shooters out of their defenses. They landed opposite 



Battle of Fredericksburg 221 

the place selected for the upper bridge, and the Eighty- 
ninth New York opposite that for the lower bridge; at sun- 
set both bridges were completed, and General Howard's 
division of the Second Corps crossed and occupied Fredericks- 
burg the night of December nth, and at sunrise was joined 
by French's and Hancock's divisions of the same corps. 
The Ninth Corps crossed after the Second Corps, and took 
position on the right of the Sixth Corps; the Second Corps 
holding the right of the Union Hne. During the night of the 
12th, General Burnside visited the different commanders 
and discussed future movements; the plan of attack suggested 
while on this visit was modified by the orders sent out on 
the morning of the 13th. General Hooker was instructed 
to place Butterfield's Corps, and Whipple's division of Stone- 
man's Corps, near the upper bridges, so as to support Sum- 
ner on the right, and to send Sickles' and Birney's divisions to 
the lower bridges to support the left under Franklin. 

General Burnside's orders for the attack, issued in the 
early morning of the 13th, were not construed by the several 
commanders in the way he intended, as is indicated in his 
report. They were at least thought to be conflicting, and 
were regarded by General FrankKn and his corps command- 
ers as requiring him to test the enemy; "You will send out at 
once a division at least, taking care to keep it well sup- 
ported and its line of retreat open"; he was not ordered to 
attack in force. Under this construction, Meade's division 
of the First Corps was sent forward and gained ground 
beyond the Confederate Hne, but met there a heavy force 
which drove him back, together with his supporters. Double- 
day's and Gibbon's divisions of the First Corps. The divi- 
sions of Birney and Sickles of the Third Corps were sent to 
the aid of the advanced line when pressed on retiring. This 
movement was a failure and the loss was very great in Meade's 
division. What would have been the result had the attack 



222 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



been ordered in force it is of course impossible to determine, 
but probably it might have been attended with some 
success. 

Following the operations on the left, General Sumner 
was directed "to attack with a division, supported closely by 
a second, the direction of the attack to be indicated by the 
Plank and Telegraph roads, and its object the possession 
of the heights immediately in rear of the town." General 
French's division led the movement, followed by Hancock's 
in supporting distance, and subsequently by Howard's 
division. In the repeated attempts to carry the heights 
the divisions of Sturgis, Getty, and Burns were sent for- 
ward to aid the attacking column, but the heights were not 
taken. At this time. General Hooker, with such of his 
Grand Division as had not been sent to the support of the 
right and the left, was ordered to cross the river and attack 
the position which the other troops had failed to capture. 
General Hooker, recalling the information given that morn- 
ing by a prisoner to Generals Burnside, Sumner and him- 
self, "that it was perfectly impossible for any troops to carry 
the position, and that a second line commanded the first," 
sent a staff officer to General Burnside to advise him not 
to attack. When the aid returned bringing the reply "that 
the attack must be made," General Hooker went to Burn- 
side and personally explained the situation, seeking to dis- 
suade him from making a hopeless attack. The attack was 
insisted upon, but although made "with a spirit and deter- 
mination seldom, if ever, equalled in war," the effect was 
unavaiUng. The troops held the positions they occupied 
on the evening of the 13th until the night of the 15th, when 
the army returned to the camps on the north of the Rappa- 
hannock, having lost 1,284 killed, 9,600 wounded, and 1,769 
missing, a total of 12,653. 

On arriving at Falmouth, General Sumner had applied for 



Battle of Fredericksburg 223 

permission to cross to the south side and take possession 
of the heights at Fredericksburg, but the request was denied. 
On the 19th of November, General Hooker, from his camp 
at Hartwood, suggested to Burnside the advantage of cross- 
ing the Rappahannock at fords four miles from his camp 
and marching to Saxton's Junction, where he could main- 
tain himself and be supplied from Washington by way of 
Port Royal; this apphcation was disapproved. On the 30th 
of November, General John Gibbon submitted a plan of 
winter campaign to General Burnside, which called for a 
transfer of the army to the vicinity of City Point on the 
James River, the capture of Petersburg, and a movement 
on the south side of the James to capture Richmond; this 
plan was also disapproved. After the disastrous movement 
against Fredericksburg, General Franklin and General W. 
F. Smith addressed a letter to the President, suggesting a 
campaign by way of the James River, but neither of these 
suggestions was favorably regarded. They required the re- 
turning of the army to the vicinity of the place from which 
it had been withdrawn in August, 1862, upon the advice 
of General Halleck. The opinions of the general-in-chief 
were not to be overcome, until General Grant determined 
to operate on the line proposed by McClellan, Gibbon, 
Frankhn, and W. F. Smith. General M. C. Meigs, Quar- 
termaster, on the 30th day of December, wrote a personal 
letter to Burnside, caUing his attention to the situation: 
"Every day's consumption of your army is an immense 
destruction of the natural and monetary resources of the 
country. The country begins to feel the effect of this ex- 
haustion, and I begin to apprehend a catastrophe." The 
movement of January 20th, called "The Mud March," 
may have been undertaken on the suggestion made by 
General Meigs. 

General Burnside disregarded the advice of his superiors 



224 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

as to the plan of campaign, and the judgment of his able 
subordinates as to operations on the field. There is no evi- 
dence that his officers withheld their loyal support, or that 
they failed to construe the conflicting orders given them, ac- 
cording to the accepted meaning of the language in which 
they were written or verbally delivered. General Burnside 
states, in his report of the operations of the army while under 
his command, the condition of the army and his efforts: 

"The army had not been paid for several months, which caused 
great dissatisfaction among the soldiers and their friends at 
home and increased the number of desertions to a fearful extent, 
and, in short, there was much gloom and despondency through- 
out the entire command. When to this is added the fact that 
there was a lack of confidence on the part of many officers in my 
ability to handle the army, it does not seem so strange that suc- 
cess did not attend my efforts. I made four distinct attempts, 
between November 9, 1862, and January 25, 1863. The first 
failed for want of pontoons; the second was the battle of Freder- 
icksburg; the third was stopped by the President; and the fourth 
was defeated by the elements and other causes. After the last 
attempt to move I was, on January 25, 1863, relieved of the 
command of the Army of the Potomac." 

In addition to the reasons above named by General Burn- 
side, there were other conditions and circumstances beyond 
his control, which are best explained in his own words, in 
his testimony before the Congressional Committee on the 
Conduct of the War': 

"I did not want the command; it had been offered to me twice 
before and I did not feel that I could take it, or that I was com- 
petent to command such a large army as this. I had said the 
same over and over again to the President and the Secretary of 

* Vol. I, page 650. 



Battle of Fredericksburg 225 

War; and also that if things could be satisfactorily arranged with 
General McClellan, I thought he could command the Army 
of the Potomac better than any other general in it." 

General Burnside's order assuming command of the Army 
of the Potomac indicated the feelings expressed in his testi- 
mony above quoted, and his command at once concluded 
that he was unequal to the duties he had reluctantly assumed. 
Men seldom attain honors when they doubt their ability to 
win them. The quahties essential to an army commander 
are, first, capacity, and, secondly, that self-confidence whose 
superlative is faith; these assure success, but one wanting 
either, however worthy in all other respects, is sure to fail 
in the performance of duties beyond his capacity. General 
Burnside declined all offers of command, but, when ordered 
to assume it, he loyally and zealously did the best he could, 
and his failure should be charged to his superiors and not 
to his subordinates. 



CHAPTER XXI 

HOOKER IN COMMAND 

GENERAL BURNSIDE was put in command of the 
Army of the Potomac by President Lincoln, with 
the approval of the Secretary of War and of the General-in- 
chief, and from the official records it is clear that all con- 
curred in the order reheving him of the command. The 
appointment of General Hooker was the sole act of the Presi- 
dent without the concurrence of Secretary Stanton or of 
General Halleck. The President's letter to General Hooker, 
will be a fitting introduction to the chapters which will treat 
of the reorganization of the army, his administrative reforms, 
his plans for engaging the enemy, and his generalship in 
fighting an aggressive battle which developed into his acting 
on the defensive: 

"ExECtrrrvE Mansion, 
"Washington, D.C, January 26, 1863. 
"Major-General Hooker, 

^^ General: — I have placed you at the head of the Army of the 
Potomac. Of course, I have done this upon what appear to me to 
be sufficient reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know that 
there are some things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied 
with you. I believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier, which, 
of course, I like. I also believe that you do not mix politics with 
your profession, in which you are right. You have confidence 
in yourself, which is a valuable, if not an indispensable, quality. 
You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good 
rather than harm; but I think that during General Burnside's 
command of the army you have taken counsel of your ambition 



Hooker in Command 227 

and thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did a great 
wrong to the country and to a most meritorious and honorable 
brother officer. I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of 
your recently saying that both the Army and the Government 
needed a dictator. Of course, it was not for this, but in spite of 
it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who 
gain successes can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is 
military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The Gov- 
ernment will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is 
neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all com- 
manders. I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to 
infuse into the army, of criticising their commander and with- 
holding confidence from him, will now turn upon you. I shall 
assist you as far as I can to put it down. Neither you nor Napo- 
leon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army 
while such a spirit prevails in it. And now, beware of rashness. 
Beware of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go 
forward and give us victory. 

"Yours very truly, 

"A. Lincoln." 



General Hooker's order assuming command of the Army 
of the Potomac expressed his appreciation of the responsibil- 
ity of the trust, of the army's great achievements, and a desire 
for the co-operation of all in securing success. One clause 
he may have thought, at a latter day, to have been sUghtly 
overdrawn: "In equipment, intelligence, and valor the enemy 
is our inferior; let us never hesitate to give him battle wher- 
ever we can." 

The consolidated report of this army for January 31, 1863, 
shows that there were present for duty equipped, 145,818 
infantry, 14,072 cavalry, and 17,888 artillery, a total of 177,- 
778. This number included 21,155 under General Heintzel- 
man, commanding the Defenses of Washington. On the 1 5th 
day of February, he reported to the War Department that 



2 28 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

"a total of 85,123 officers and men were absent from this 
command when first placed in my charge." General Hooker 
prescribed rules for granting leaves of absence and fur- 
loughs, limiting the time of absence to ten days to residents 
of nearby States, and to fifteen days to residents of Eastern 
and Western States, and limiting also the number to be granted 
in each organization of the army. Later, he increased the 
number allowed to go on leave from organizations favorably 
reported by inspecting officers. General WilHam F. Smith 
was tranferred from the command of the Sixth Corps to the 
Ninth Corps, which was at the same time embarked for 
Fortress Monroe; and General John Sedgwick was placed 
in command of the Sixth Corps. On the 5th of February, 
he ordered a reorganization of his army as follows : 

"The division of this army into grand divisions, impeding rather 
than facilitating the dispatch of current business, and the char- 
acter of the service it is liable to be called upon to perform being 
adverse to the movement and operations of heavy columns, it is 
discontinued, and the corps organization is adopted in its stead. 

"They will be commanded as follows: 

"First Corps, Major- General John F. Reynolds. 

"Second Corps, Major-General D. N. Couch. 

"Third Corps, Brigadier- General D. E. Sickles. 

"Fifth Corps, Major- General George G. Meade. 

"Sixth Corps, Major- General John Sedgwick. 

"Eleventh Corps, Major-General Franz Siegel. 

"Twelfth Corps, Major-General H. W. Slocum. 

"Hereafter the corps will be considered as a unit for the or- 
ganization of the artillery, and no transfers of batteries will be 
made from one corps or division to others except for the purpose 
of equalization, and then only under the authority of the chief 
of artillery. 

"The cavalry of the army will be consolidated into one corps, 
under the command of Brigadier-General George Stoneman, 
who will make the necessary assignments for detached duty." 



Hooker in Command 229 

In addition to the reorganization of the infantry, the cav- 
alry and the artillery arms, General Hooker gave an inteUi- 
gent supervision to every branch and department of his army, 
and established important and salutary reforms. The man- 
agement of the Commissary Department removed all occa- 
sions for complaint as to quality or issue of rations. He 
caused the admirable system of caring for the wounded 
established by Surgeon Charles O'Leary, Medical Director 
of the Sixth Corps, (at the request of Dr. Letterman, Medi- 
cal Director,) which had first been put into operation at the 
battle of Crampton's Pass, September 14, 1862, to be extended 
throughout the army. The details of this system were ex- 
plained in chapter XVI. General Kearny, when on the 
Chickahominy, had ordered his men to sew pieces of red 
flannel on their caps, that he might recognize them in battle, 
and this idea General Hooker, on the suggestion of his 
chief of staff, developed into a system of distinctive badges 
for each corps, and division. He sought by inspections, 
reviews, and commendatory orders to cultivate in the sol- 
diers of the army a spirit of emulation, of self-appreciation, 
of self-confidence, which quahties are the most effective 
in promoting efficiency ; and it was attained to such a degree, 
that he declared his was "the finest army on the planet." He 
selected an efficient staff, and to its chief. General Daniel 
Butterfield, a man of large experience in business affairs 
before entering the army, he was much indebted for the high 
administrative methods for which his term as commander 
was noted. 

He owed his appointment to President Lincoln, and to 
him only did he confide his plans and purposes as to military 
operations. General Halleck, General-in-chief, took early 
occasion to commend the order dispensing with the grand divi- 
sions, and the consoHdation of the cavalry into an independ- 
ent corps, but the official records contain no communication 



230 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

to him, or to the Secretary of War, except such as related 
to administrative affairs, which the regulations required 
should be sent to the War Department. General Hooker's 
visits to Washington were for the purpose of consulting with 
the President as to the movements of his army, and if, while 
there, he called upon the Secretary of War or on the General- 
in-chief, the call was purely one of courtesy, or to transact 
business of an administrative character. 

On April 5th, President Lincoln visited the army, and on 
the 7th, reviewed the Second, the Third, the Fifth and the 
Sixth Corps, and on the 8th, the First, the Eleventh, the 
Twelfth, and the Cavalry Corps. He returned to Wash- 
ington on the loth, and on the next day General Hooker 
sent to him his plan for the campaign which the President's 
visit was intended to have begun. 

The chief provisions of the plan are reproduced as fol- 
lows: 

"I have concluded that I will have more chance of inflicting 
a heavier blow upon the enemy by turning his position to my right, 
to sever his connections with Richmond with my dragoon force 
and light batteries, which will cross the river above Rappahan- 
nock Bridge, go to Culpeper and Gordonsville, cross to Aquia 
Railroad. While the cavalry are moving I shall threaten the 
passage of the river at various points, and, after they have passed 
well to the enemy's rear, shall endeavor to effect the crossing." 

The President returned his approval and, on the 12th, 
General Hooker directed General Stoneman, commanding 
the cavalry corps, to march on the morning of the 13th, with 
all his available force, except one brigade, 

"for the purpose of turning the enemy's position on the left, and 
throwing your command between him and Richmond, isolating 
him from his supplies, checking his retreat, and inflicting on him 
every possible injury which will tend to his discomfort and defeat. 



Hooker in Command 231 

To destroy a small provost-guard of the enemy at Gordonsville, 
to push forward to the Aquia and Richmond Railroad and de- 
stroy the railroad bridges, trains, cars, depots of provisions, and 
lines of telegraphic communication. If the enemy should retire 
by Culpeper and Gordonsville, you will endeavor to hold your 
forces in his front, and harass him day and night on the march and 
in camp unceasingly. If you cannot cut off from his column large 
slices, then you will not fail to take small ones. Let your watch- 
word be 'fight,' and let your orders be 'fight, fight, fight,' bearing 
in mind that time is as valuable as the rebel carcasses. You may 
rely upon the general being in connection with you before your 
supplies are exhausted. Bear in mind that celerity, audacity, 
and resolution are everything in war." 

The Circular Orders to corps commanders will recall, 
to the survivors of our Civil War, the articles regarded as 
essential to the comfort and efficiency of a soldier w^hen 
marching forth to battle, as well as acquaint the inexperi- 
enced civilian with the outfit of a soldier at the beginning 
of a campaign. It is easier to enumerate than it was to 
carry them: musket; belts; cap-box; cartridge-box; ammu- 
nition, forty to sixty rounds; knapsack with blanket, extra 
shirt, socks, and drawers; haversack, with knife, fork, 
spoon, tin-plate; rations for three to eight days, each ration 
weighing three pounds; a canteen with water; tooth, hair 
and shoe brushes, (with blacking for latter,) not counting 
pipe and tobacco, (ninety per cent, of the soldiers used 
tobacco). All these things would weigh from thirty to forty 
per cent, of the weight of the boy or man who carried them. 
It was seldom they had good roads; oftener they marched 
where there were no roads, across fields, through forests 
and swamps, over fences and hills, fording streams, fre- 
quently traveling more miles on the day of a battle and going 
into action as fresh troops, than they would march in chang- 
ing camp. Strange as it may seem, I never knew a soldier. 



232 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

coming to the end of an all day's march, who would patiently 
undertake to answer the frequent inquiry of those vocif- 
erous patriots at home, — ("who never could endure the 
sight of a rebel in arms,") — "Why don't the army move?" 

The heavy rains which fell after the issuance of these orders 
made the roads impassable and the streams unfordable. 
President Lincoln requested General Hooker to meet him 
and General Halleck at Aquia Creek on Sunday morning, 
the 19th of April for consultation. Before leaving, the Presi- 
dent said to Generals Hooker and Couch: "I want to impress 
it upon you two gentlemen; in your next fight put in all of 
your men."^ 

It has been said the President left this conference with 
grave doubts as to the success of the campaign; these doubts 
were largely due to the absolute confidence expressed by 
General Hooker in the wisdom of his plans, and the positive 
assurance that he would certainly destroy or capture Lee's 
army. The President remembered that the brave promises 
of General Pope, on assuming command of the Army of 
Virginia, were not followed by effective actions, and he re- 
peated to General Halleck the declaration of the old farmer, 
that "the hen is the wisest of all of the animal creation 
because she never cackles until the egg is laid." 



' General Couch's "The Chancellorsville Campaign," in Battles and 
Leaders 0} the Civil War. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE 

THE rations, forage and ammunition, which the com- 
manders were directed by Circular Orders of April 
13th to have in readiness, were drawn and kept on hand, 
but not until the 26th and 27th were orders issued naming 
the day and giving the details of the general movement. 
Under these. General Stoneman, with General Gregg's divi- 
sion and General Buford's reserve brigade of cavalry, crossed 
the Rappahannock above Kelly's Ford on the 29th, and pro- 
ceeded south to cut the enemy's lines of communication and 
to inflict all the injuries possible under his instructions of 
the 12th of April. The Fifth Corps under Meade, the 
Eleventh Corps under Howard, and the Twelfth Corps 
under Slocum were marched "as near to Kelly's Ford as 
practicable without discovering themselves to the enemy," 
on the afternoon of the 28th, and, during the night and the 
next morning, crossed the Rappahannock. General Pleas- 
onton, having reported to General Slocum at Kelly's Ford, 
with his brigade of cavalry, was ordered to send a regiment 
to each corps commander. The Fifth Corps, preceded by 
the Eighth Pennsylvania cavalry, crossed the Rapidan at 
Ely's Ford, and marched to Chancellorsville, the leading 
division arriving at 11 a.m., the second at i p.m.; and the 
third, because of fatigue, halted two miles from Chancellors- 
ville and arrived at 7 o'clock the next morning. The 
Eleventh Corps, preceded by the Seventeenth Pennsylvania 
cavalry, and the Twelfth Corps, preceded by the Sixth New 



234 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

York cavalry, crossed the Rapidan at Germanna Ford 
before daylight on the morning of the 30th of April, and the 
leading divisions arrived at Chancellorsville at 2 o'clock 
P.M. General Slocum's orders of April 28th read: 

"When the Fifth Corps is crossed, you push on with both your 
corps, the Eleventh and the Twelfth, to Chancellorsville, at 
which point the three corps will come together, which you will 
command by virtue of your seniority. . . . 

"If your cavalry is well advanced from Chancellorsville, you 
will be able to ascertain whether or not the enemy is detaching 
forces from behind Fredericksburg to resist your advance. If not 
in any considerable force, the general desires that you will en- 
deavor to advance at all hazards, securing a position on the Plank 
road and uncovering Banks's Ford. If the enemy should be greatly 
reinforced, you will then select a strong position, and compel him 
to attack you on your ground. You will have nearly forty thou- 
sand men, which is more than he can spare to send against you. 
The general desires that not a moment be lost until our troops 
are at or near Chancellorsville. From that moment all will be 
ours." 



It has been stated by some who have searched for reasons 
to account for General Hooker's failure at Chancellorsville 
that it was in part due to General Slocum's failure to carry 
out the provisions of the orders above quoted, directing him 
"to secure a position on the Plank road and uncover Banks' 
Ford." The official records show that General Slocum 
executed the provisions of every order given to him. On 
the 30th of April, 2.15 p.m.. General Butterfield, General 
Hooker's Chief of Staff, sent a dispatch to Captain Com- 
stock, Corps of Engineers, in charge of the bridge-train, 
who was with the advancing columns, and copies to Generals 
Couch and Meade, as follows: 

"The General directs that no advance be made from Chan- 



Battle of Chancellorsville 235 

cellorsville until the columns are concentrated. He expects to 
be at Chancellorsville to-night." 

General Slocum had been in command of the Eleventh 
Corps and of his own, the Twelfth Corps, on the march 
from the Rappahannock, and, of the Fifth, from 2 p.m., 
until the arrival of General Hooker about two hours later; 
but he could not advance from Chancellorsville, for the fore- 
going order of April 30th forbade such a movement until 
the three corps were concentrated, which did not take place 
until 7 A.M. on the first day of May, sixteen hours after the 
arrival of General Hooker. General Pleasonton, in his 
article entitled "The Successes and Failures of Chancellors- 
ville" published in '^Battles and Leaders oj the Civil War, 
says : 

"At 2 o'clock P.M., April 30th, I reported to General Hooker 
at Chancellorsville, that we had evidently surprised General Lee 
by our rapid movements across the river, and, as Lee had pre- 
pared for a battle at Chancellorsville, we had better anticipate 
him by moving toward Fredericksburg. A march of three or 
four miles would take us out of the woods into an open country 
where we could form our line of battle, and where our artillery 
could be used to advantage; we could then be prepared to move 
on Fredericksburg in the morning; besides, such a movement 
would enable us to uncover Banks's Ford, which would shorten 
our communication with General Sedgwick over five miles, and 
bring us within three and one-half miles of Falmouth by that 
Ford. 

"I was much surprised to find General Hooker, who up to 
that time had been all vigor, energy, and activity, received the 
suggestion as a matter of secondary importance, and that he con- 
sidered the next morning sufi&ciently early to move on Freder- 
icksburg. Up to that time General Hooker's strategy had been 
all that could be desired. He had outflanked the enemy and 
surprised him by the rapidity of his movements. At 2 o'clock 



236 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

P.M., on the 30th of April, General Hooker had ninety chances in 
favor to ten against him." .... 



No movements were ordered until 1 1 o'clock on the morn- 
ing of May ist, when General Hooker directed the Fifth 
Corps to advance on the river roads to uncover Banks's 
Ford, and the Twelfth Corps to advance until the right was 
near Tabernacle Church, and the Eleventh Corps to follow 
the Twelfth Corps. The Second Corps, and the Third 
Corps, the latter coming on the ground, to be stationed near 
Chancellorsville. In the execution of this order two divisions 
of the Fifth Corps, marching near the river, came within 
sight of Banks's Ford without meeting the enemy. Sykes's 
division, marching on a road south of the one taken by 
Griffin's and Humphrey's divisions, met the enemy, and 
General Hooker sent Couch with Hancock's division to re- 
inforce Sykes. 

Soon after Hancock's division was put into position to co- 
operate with that of Sykes, Hooker sent an order to Couch 
"to withdraw both divisions to Chancellorsville." Generals 
Couch, Hancock, Sykes and Warren all agreed that the 
ground should not be abandoned, because of the open coun- 
try in front and the commanding position. General Couch 
sent Major Burt to General Hooker to state his views and 
those of the officers named. Major Burt soon returned 
from General Hooker with positive orders "to return to Chan- 
cellorsville." General Warren also returned to Hooker 
and urged that the advance be continued, but without avail. 
General Slocum was making satisfactory progress and, in 
sight of his designated position, was driving the enemy 
and had suffered a loss of but two killed and eight wounded, 
when he was ordered to return to Chancellorsville. 

General Slocum was so strongly impressed with the ne- 
cessity of holding the position already gained, that he 



Battle of Chancellorsville 237 

suspended action under the order until the commanding gen- 
eral could be advised of its importance, and he sent Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel E. W. Guindon of his staff to General Hooker 
to express his views, and to request that the order to with- 
draw be recalled. Lieutenant-Colonel Guindon went as 
directed, and after explaining the situation, and communi- 
cating the views and wishes of General Slocum, was ordered 
to return to General Slocum with instructions "to retire to 
his former line." 

The position abandoned was high open ground over 
which an army might use infantry and artillery advantage- 
ously, but, left in the hands of the enemy, he could estab- 
Ush his batteries on its crests and command the position at 
Chancellorsville, which was low ground, heavily timbered 
and without clear fields large enough properly to manoeuvre 
a division with its batteries. The importance of holding 
Banks's Ford, which would materially shorten the line be- 
tween his right and left wings, as well as with his base at 
Falmouth, was not given a thought. That it was not done 
on account of any developments on the south side of the 
Rappahannock, where all the enemy's forces were located, 
is certain, as shown by Hooker's dispatch to his Chief of 

StaflF, as follows : 

" Chancellorsville, Virginia, 

"May I, 1863. 

"After having ordered an attack at 2 o'clock, and most of the 
troops in position, I suspended the attack on receipt of news from 
the other side of the river. Hope the enemy will be emboldened 
to attack me. I did feel certain of success. If his communications 
are cut, he must attack me. I have a strong position. 

"Joseph Hooker, 
* ' Major-General. " 

General Hooker's troops, called back from the advance 
toward Fredericksburg, at once proceeded to construct 



238 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

rifle-pits and abatis. The enemy advanced skirmishers along 
this line in the evening, but they were soon driven off, and 
our troops continued to strengthen their line through Friday 
night and Saturday morning. 

On Saturday morning, the 2nd of May, the enemy opened 
on the left of the Union hne with artillery, but without much 
effect, except upon the trains in rear of the Chancellor House, 
and he made several feints of attack along the hne from left 
to right of Sickles's position, seemingly for the purpose of 
locating our line and learning its strength. Both Generals 
Slocum and Sickles sent out a small force on a reconnais- 
sance toward the front and to the left, driving the enemy's 
skirmishers back until his main line was discovered. A num- 
ber of prisoners were captured, and a partial knowledge of 
the enemy's dispositions gained. 

After returning from the reconnaissance, General Sickles, 
through a staff officer, reported to the cormnanding Gen- 
eral that 

"A continuous column — infantry, artillery, trains, and ambu- 
lances — was observed for three hours moving apparently in 
southerly direction toward Orange Court House, on the Orange 
and Alexandria Railroad, or Louisa Court-House on the Vir- 
ginia Central," 

and asked permission to attack it. When authorized to 
make the attack he invited the co-operation of Generals 
Slocum and Howard, and with troops from his own corps, 
Williams's division of the Twelfth Corps, and Barlow's 
brigade of the Eleventh Corps, he made a spirited attack, 
captured prisoners, and was about to send Pleasonton's 
cavalry to increase the force, when 

"it was reported to him that the Eleventh Corps had yielded the 
right flank of the army to the enemy, who was advancing rap- 
idly, and, indeed, was already in his rear." 



Battle of Chancellorsville 239 

This advance of the enemy to General Sickles's rear cut 
him off from the main line, but, with great promptness and 
vigor, he turned his forces toward the right of Jackson's 
column, drove it back and regained connection with his 
reserves. General Sickles gives much credit to General 
Pleasonton, who had reported to him with his cavalry to 
engage in pursuing the Confederate column, and, on the 
change from attacking the fleeing enemy to fighting those 
seizing his rear, he placed General Pleasonton in charge of 
the artillery which played a most important part in the 
severe contest for the possession of his old line, which was 
regained before dark. Among the batteries engaged, 
Osbom's, under the command of Lieutenant Winslow, did 
most effective work. Captain O shorn was now chief of 
the artillery of the Second Division, Third Corps. At mid- 
night. General Sickles again attacked the right of Jackson's 
troops, drove it back, recovered guns and caissons left when 
our Une was broken, and brought in a number of Confed- 
erate prisoners. 

The advance of General Jackson, across the front of 
Hooker's army, to attack the rear of his right flank was 
a most difficult and hazardous undertaking, and would have 
been disastrous had it been energetically and forcefully met. 
When General Lee ordered it carried out he directed the 
troops of Generals McLaws' and Anderson's divisions to 
hold the left and front of the Union line, by skirmishers 
operating in front of his rifle-pits. General McLaws says 
in his report: 

"My orders were to hold my position; not to engage seriously, 
but to press strongly so soon as it was discovered that General 
Jackson had attacked. It was not until late in the evening that 
it was known General Jackson had commenced his assault, when 
I ordered an advance along the whole line to engage with the 
skirmishers which were largely reinforced." 



240 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

The conduct of the Eleventh Corps was severely criticised. 
The principal officers vigorously defended its action, and 
repeatedly asked that their official reports should be pub- 
lished, or that a court of inquiry should be ordered, "so that 
the true facts may come to light and the responsibihty for 
the disaster be fairly apportioned." These requests were 
disapproved by General Hooker and General Halleck. 
The laborious investigations made by Lieutenant- Colonel 
Augustus C. Hamlin, Medical Inspector, published under 
the title of ''The Battle of Chancellorsville/' will correct many 
misconceived notions about this battle and the part taken 
in it by the Eleventh Corps, and should be read in connect- 
ion with the official reports. 

Saturday morning, May 2nd, General Reynolds, with the 
First Corps, which had been under the orders of General 
Sedgwick, marched from Pollock's Mill Creek to Chancellors- 
ville, where he reported to General Hooker in the evening, 
and before dayhght on Sunday, the 3rd of May, placed two 
of his divisions in position, and the third before sunrise. 
The arrival of the First Corps increased the right wing of 
General Hooker's army to more than eighty thousand men. 

At daybreak on Sunday, May 3rd, the enemy opened the 
battle with a furious attack on the hnes held by the Second, 
the Third, and the Twelfth Corps. The effort of the enemy 
to break these lines was without success, but after three 
hours of sharp fighting the ammunition ran low and Gen- 
eral Hooker, standing on the porch of the Chancellor House 
closely watching the battle, was informed that a supply of 
ammunition should be furnished or the troops on the front 
line relieved. No troops were brought from the reserve, but 
a brigade from the Third Corps was sent to support a portion 
of the line of the Twelfth Corps, heavily pressed; it arrived 
too late, and the line began falling back. The line once 
broken enabled the enemy to advance, and he poured such a 



Battle of Chancellorsville 241 

destructive fire on the artillery that it retired, after the loss of 
two battery commanders and a number of men and horses 
in Slocum's Corps, to the second line of defence. Many 
regiments of the Third and of the Twelfth Corps held their 
ground with the bayonet after every cartridge had been 
expended, and troops of Sickles's Corps charged the enemy's 
line and brought off prisoners, in which movement their 
only reliance was the bayonet. On this charge, a fierce hand- 
to-hand struggle was carried on over the colors of the Third 
Excelsior regiment, "but every rebel who touched them 
was either shot or bayoneted." It was apparent that the 
enemy exhibited exhaustion, for on his advance there was 
no sign of energy, except on the part of his artillery. 

This was a favorable moment for General Hooker to have 
ordered forward one or more of the three corps which had 
awaited orders all the morning to be put into action. While 
Hooker was standing on the porch of the Chancellor House, 
apparently unconscious of the impending repulse of his battle 
line, a pillar near which he was standing was struck by one 
of the enemy's shots and the fragments knocked him down 
and seriously injured him. He was helped off the porch 
and to mount, then rode to the rear and sent for General 
Couch, the next ranking officer, and ordered him to withdraw 
the army to a new position, with its right flank on the Rapi- 
dan, its left on the Rappahannock and its centre opposite 
the United States Ford. The officers at the front were 
reluctant to abandon their positions, and General Sickles 
sent a staff officer^ to the reserve to ask for assistance, fully 
believing that a fresh army corps would turn the tide of 
battle and gain a victory. This view was generally enter- 
tained, but General Meade, to whom the appeal was direct- 
ly made, refused to advance without orders from the 



^ General Henry E. Tremain. 



242 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

commanding general or his representative, General Couch. 
Hooker would not give them, and Couch had orders to with- 
draw the army under specific instructions from Hooker. The 
army was withdrawn before noon and went to work throwing 
up breastworks and strengthening its position. The enemy 
did not molest them, except by an occasional cannon shot, 
for reasons which are best explained by General Lee : 

"The enemy had withdrawn to a strong position nearer to 
the Rappahannock, which had been previously fortified. His 
superiority of numbers, the unfavorable nature of the ground, 
which was densely wooded, and the condition of our troops after 
the arduous and sanguinary conflict in which they had been en- 
gaged, rendered great caution necessary. Our preparations were 
just completed when further operations were arrested by intelli- 
gence received from Fredericksburg." 

After Hooker had retired to the third position he tele- 
graphed to the President, 

"We have had a desperate fight yesterday and today, having 
lost a portion of two lines. We will endeavor to do our best. My 
troops are in good spirits. No general ever commanded a more 
devoted army." 

At midnight of the 4th-5th of May, General Hooker called 
his corps commanders in council, which all attended, except 
General Slocum, who did not arrive, on account of the long 
distance of his command from headquarters, until the meeting 
had dissolved. Generals Meade, Reynolds and Howard 
advised an advance against the enemy; Generals Couch and 
Sickles were opposed to advancing. General Slocum stated 
that he should have advised an advance had he arrived in 
time to vote. General Hooker, after the council adjourned, 
announced his purpose of crossing the river, and directed 
the commanders to cut roads from their several positions 



Battle of Chancellorsville . 243 

to the United States Ford. During the night of the 5th 
and the early morning of the 6th of May, the First, two 
divisions of the Second, the Third, the Fifth, the Eleventh 
and the Twelfth Corps, and Pleasonton's cavalry crossed the 
Rappahannock and marched to their old camps. 

Before the President was informed of General Hooker's 
purpose to abandon the campaign and recross the Rappa- 
hannock, he sent him two dispatches indicating his desire 
that Hooker should hold on, but gave no orders. General 
Hooker replied on returning to Falmouth: 

"I saw no way of giving the enemy a general battle with 
prospect of success which I desired. Not to exceed three corps, 
all told, of my troops have been engaged. For the whole to go 
in, there is a better place near at hand. Will write you at 
length tonight." 



Casualties in the Battle of Chancellorsville, May ist to 3RD. 

Killed 
General Headquarters .... — 

First Corps 9 

Second Corps 141 

Third Corps 378 

Fifth Corps 69 

Eleventh Corps 217 

Twelfth Corps 260 

Cavalry 8 

1,082 6,849 4,214 12,145 

Casualties in Northern New York Organizations 

Sixtieth lost 8 killed, 8 mortally wounded, 38 wounded, 
total 54. Osbom's Light Battery D, First New York, 2 
killed, 12 wounded, total 14. Captain T. W. Osbom was 
chief of artillery of the division and Lieutenant George B. 
Winslow in command of the battery. Both were highly 



Wounded 


Missing 


Total 


I 


— 


I 


80 


46 


^2>S 


954 


720 


1,815 


2,645 


1,096 


4,119 


472 


159 


700 


1,221 


974 


2,412 


1,441 


1,121 


2,822 


35 


98 


141 



244 • -^^^^ ^^^ ^° Chancellorsville 

commended for the excellent conduct of their commands 
m action. Captain Riley Johnson's company K, Sixth 
New York Cavalry, 2 men wounded. This company was 
from the beginning of the Peninsula campaign, in 1862, 
on escort duty at Second Corps headquarters. Their em- 
ployment in that capacity was evidence of their intelligence 
and fine soldierly bearing. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE BATTLES OF MAR YE' S HEIGHTS AND SALEM 
CHURCH 

GENERAL HOOKER'S operations on the left were 
primarily conducted to conceal his purpose of mak- 
ing the main attack from Chancellorsville, and before day- 
light on the 29th of April he caused the First Corps under 
Reynolds, the Third Corps under Sickles, and the Sixth 
Corps under Sedgwick, to be assembled on the north bank 
of the Rappahannock, three miles below Fredericks- 
burg, all under the command of General John Sedg- 
wick. At daybreak on the 29th, General Brooks's 
division of the Sixth Corps crossed the river in pon- 
toon boats, at Franklin's old crossing, and took position 
in a dense fog close to the enemy's picket line. At 10 a.m., 
General Wadsworth's division of the First Corps began cross- 
ing a mile below and, when the division was all over, Gen- 
eral Brooks extended the left of his line to connect with 
General Wadsworth's right. These divisions held the 
ground in front of the pontoon bridges under the enemy's 
fire of artillery and infantry, but no serious engagement 
took place. The troops of the three corps occupied their 
positions without change until i p.m. on the 30th of April, 
when General Sickles marched to join General Hooker 
at Chancellorsville. The First and the Sixth Corps remained 
in the same position until 6 p.m. on the first day of May, 
when the four divisions still on the north side of the river 
were put under arms by an order of General Hooker, which 



246 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

had been five hours in reaching General Sedgwick, "to 
threaten an attack in full force at i o'clock and to continue 
in that attitude until further orders. Let the demonstra- 
tion be as severe as can be, but not an attack;" the demon- 
stration ceased at dark. 

At 7 A.M. on the 2nd of May, General Reynolds withdrew 
Wadsworth's division from the south side, marched his corps 
to United States Ford, and thence to Chancellorsville. On 
the departure of the First Corps, General Sedgwick ordered 
the divisions of Newton and Howe to cross the river, and at 
sundown the Sixth Corps was united. General Sedgwick 
received an order at 11 p.m., 

"to at once march on the Chancellorsville road and connect 
with the major-general commanding; to attack and destroy any 
force you may fall in with on the road; leave all trains behind 
except the pack-mule train of small ammunition, and be in the 
vicinity of the general at daylight." 

Without delay he proceeded to carry out the order, ad- 
vanced on the Bowling Green Road, and, skirmishing with 
the enemy all the way, reached Fredericksburg at 3 a.m., 
carrying the intrenchments with the bayonet. 

General Gibbon's division of the Second Corps was 
brought across the Rappahannock and put into position on 
the right of the Sixth Corps in its advance against Marye's 
Heights. Two storming columns and a Une of battle were 
formed of troops of Newton's division, and, advancing at 
a double-quick without firing or halting, drove the enemy 
from his first line of works, pressed forward to the crest of 
Marye's Heights and carried the works in rear of the rifle- 
pits, capturing guns and prisoners. General Howe at the 
same time advanced on the left, gained the crest in his front 
and captured prisoners and guns. Thus Sedgwick's corps 
gained possession of the heights which had repulsed the 



Marye's Heights and Salem Church 247 

right wing of Burnside's army on the 13th of December. 
Gibbon's division was sent in pursuit of the enemy retiring 
south of Fredericksburg, with orders to hold the town. 
The Sixth Corps at once proceeded on the Chancellorsville 
road to comply with the orders of the commanding general, 
and carried each series of heights without halting until in 
the vicinity of Salem Church, where the enemy, having been 
reinforced by a brigade brought from Banks's Ford, made 
a most stubborn resistance. General Brooks's division on 
the left, and General Newton's division on the right, advanced 
slowly through a dense thicket of second growth and brush, 
to the crest of the hill. The left of Brooks's division was 
on a line with Salem Church. The enemy was in strong 
force about the church, with sharp shooters on the inside, 
and opened a sharp enfilading fire upon the left of Brooks's 
line. Unable to hold its position against superior numbers 
advantageously posted, the hne fell slowly back, followed 
by the enemy, but his advance was soon checked by our 
batteries. The troops were reformed, and again advanced 
upon the woods forcing back the enemy, but with fresh 
troops coming to his assistance he made a determined resist- 
ance and checked the progress of the corps. Darkness 
ended the battle, and our troops rested upon their arms. 
The Sixth Corps had marched ten miles in sixteen hours, 
driving all the way a vigilant and determined enemy, cap- 
tured three fortified positions and without halting, except 
to form lines of battle and columns of assault, and at the close 
of the day remained on the line of battle, the second of two 
battles fought on the same day, each of which will rank among 
the severest of the many fought throughout the war. 

General Lee, having driven Hooker from two lines, as 
described in the last chapter, turned his attention to Sedg- 
wick's advance. General McLaws's division was detached 
from Lee's Hne at Chancellorsville and sent to strengthen 



248 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

the forces resisting the Sixth Corps at Salem Church, and, 
soon after, General R. H. Anderson's division was ordered 
to report to McLaws. At an early hour on the morning of 
May 4th, General Sedgwick learned that the forces in his 
immediate front had been largely reinforced, and that 
another column of the enemy had occupied the heights of 
Fredericksburg and cut off his communication with the 
town. He formed his corps for defense, putting Howe's 
division in line to the rear with his left on the Rappahannock, 
and his right extending south to join with Newton's south 
of the Plank road, which extended west to Salem Heights, 
joining Brooks's, which turned north toward the Rappahan- 
nock, forming three sides of a square in front of Banks's 
Ford, a battle Hne three miles long. The enemy, after cut- 
ting our communications with Fredericksburg, next tried 
to cut off our connection with Banks's Ford. General Howe 
defeated this effort and captured a large number of prisoners 
in doing it. While General Sedgwick was reforming his 
lines, on the morning of the 4th, General Hooker notified 
him that he had contracted his lines, and instructed him 

"to look well to the safety of his corps, preserve communica- 
tions with Fredericksburg and Banks 's Ford, to fall back on the 
former place, or recross, in preference at the ford, where he could 
more readily communicate with the main body." 

With his communications cut with Fredericksburg, and 
the enemy pressing his thin line, it was not possible to cross 
the river in dayhght. General Hooker advised Sedgwick 
that he was too far away to direct his movements; he could 
not relieve him, and the day was passed in protecting his 
hne until darkness should veil his movements ; then the Sixth 
Corps began crossing on the bridge, which had been laid 
on the 3rd, after Wilcox had moved his brigade to the support 
of the enemy's hne at Salem Church. At 2 o'clock on the 



Marye's Heights and Salem Church 249 

morning of the 5th, when a large portion of the corps had 
crossed, General Hooker countermanded the order to with- 
draw, but the first order had been substantially executed, 
and it was impossible to return to the south bank in face 
of the superior force on the ground to resist it. The Sixth 
Corps had captured five battle flags, fifteen pieces of artil- 
lery, nine of which were brought off, (six having been left 
at Fredericksburg were retaken on the enemy's occupation 
of the town,) and fourteen hundred prisoners, many of high 
rank; these trophies cost the loss of 493 killed, 2,710 wounded, 
1,497 missing, a total of 4,700, or about forty per cent, of 
the number taken into action. Gibbon's division recrossed 
the river before daylight on the 5th, having lost 8 killed, 90 
wounded, and 12 missing, a total of no. The Sixteenth 
New York took 30 officers and 380 enHsted men on the 
campaign; of the 410 there were 24 killed, 12 mortally 
wounded, loi wounded, and 17 captured not wounded, a 
total of 154. A nominal Hst will be found in the Appendix, 
page 362. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN REVIEWED 

GENERAL HOOKER had planned a campaign to 
capture or destroy General Lee's army, the pre- 
liminary movements of which were successfully and brill- 
iantly executed. Dividing his army into two wings, he placed 
the right, consisting of three corps and two divisions, with 
more men than General Lee had at his disposal, on the left 
flank of the Confederate defenses and near the roads lead- 
ing to his hne of communication, while three corps and one 
division were stationed on the bank of the Rappahannock, 
opposite the front and right flank of Lee's fortifications, 
with pontoons at hand to construct bridges over which these 
troops could be quickly marched to positions on the south 
side; all this was done without a contest. General Hooker's 
order of April 28th, for the marching of his right wing, con- 
templated the gaining of a position on the Plank road, near 
Tabernacle Church, which would uncover Banks's Ford 
and bring the wings of his army within co-operating distance 
of each other, but before the corps constituting the right wing 
came together at Chancellorsville he ordered that there 
should be no advance from that place. General Pleasonton, 
whose cavalry had preceded the infantry and artillery col- 
umns, rode over the ground three or four miles beyond 
Chancellorsville, on the 29th and 30th of April, and, on his 
arrival at Chancellorsville, strongly urged the commanding 
general to advance promptly to the position indicated in his 
first order. That General Hooker had ample justification 



The Chancellorsville Campaign 251 

for not advancing on the 30th will be conceded when the 
exhausted condition of his troops is considered ; this is shown 
by the statements of two commanders, the first of whom had 
marched the shortest, and the other the longest, distance 
from their camps to Chancellorsville. General Humphreys 
says in his report: 

"I reached Ely's Ford between 12 and i o'clock (April 30th), 
but I found my troops so much exhausted, that, after fording the 
river, I bivouacked on Hunting Creek, three miles from Chan- 
cellorsville, having marched at least eighteen miles. On the morn- 
ing of May I, my division was at Chancellorsville at 7 o'clock, 
it having been delayed one hour by the tardiness of the First 
Brigade, a tardiness that General Tyler attributed to the fatigue 
of the men." 

General Slocum says in his report : 

"Most of my corps marched more than sixty miles in three and 
a half days, over bad roads and through a severe rain-storm, the 
men carrying on their persons eight days' rations (more than 
double the amount ever before carried by any troops in this army) , 
besides sixty rounds of ammunition and the usual amount of 
clothing. On this march the command crossed two rivers, a 
portion of it fording one of them," 

The importance of having troops in fresh and vigorous 
condition when taken into battle, especially against a well 
organized and ably commanded army, such as General 
Hooker was to meet, requires no explanation or argument. 
It is certain that the right wing of Hooker's army was not 
in proper physical condition to meet the enemy on the 30th 
of April; but one night's rest invigorated it, and on the ist of 
May it could have marched at daylight in as good condi- 
tion as at II A.M. At daylight, the two corps which led the 
advance, with one corps following on the right flank, could 



252 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

have marched and, without opposition, have reached the Tab- 
ernacle Church before 8 o'clock, and would have found 
there only six brigades and their batteries of the enemy's 
forces; this force was not increased until 11 a.m., when 
"Stonewall" Jackson arrived from Fredericksburg with 
eleven brigades and their batteries. Although General 
Hooker had allowed his army to remain in camp five or six 
hours after dayhght before beginning the advance, he could 
have formed line of battle at the place reached by his troops 
at 12 o'clock, on an open plain where artillery and infantry 
could be manoeuvred. He withdrew his army to Chancel- 
lorsville against the urgent advice of his chief engineer. 
General Warren; of Generals Couch and Slocum, com- 
manding corps; of Generals Hancock and Sykes, command- 
ing divisions; and of General Pleasonton, commanding 
the cavalry. 

Although Chancellorsville as a position was bad in every 
feature, having no natural protection for the flanks, without 
sufficient cavalry to guard them, and with the command- 
ing positions left for the enemy to occupy without opposi- 
tion. Hooker could nevertheless have won a victory with his 
numerical superiority, could he have roused himself, and 
acted upon the undeniable truths contained in his instruc- 
tions to his cavalry commander, that "celerity, audacity, 
and resolution are everything in war." "Stonewall" 
Jackson's unlooked-for attack upon, and success in break- 
ing the Eleventh Corps was a serious matter, not so serious, 
however, but that Jackson's column could have been routed, 
possibly destroyed, had the First and the Fifth Corps been 
promptly advanced to the attack. General Lee renewed 
the battle at daylight on Sunday morning, May 3rd, and was 
held back by the troops of the Second, the Third, and the 
TweKth Corps for three hours, when their ammunition was 
exhausted, and they were compelled to retire, although the 



The Chancellorsville Campaign 253 

First, the Fifth, and the Eleventh Corps had all the morn- 
ing been awaiting orders to join in the battle. General 
Hooker had been notified, an hour before he was injured 
while on the Chancellor House porch, that ammunition should 
be supplied or fresh troops should relieve those on the firing 
line, to which call he paid no attention. Hooker's injuries 
were at first thought to be mortal by those who were near 
him, but he was able in a few minutes to ride to the rear, 
when he sent for General Couch, the officer next in rank, 
who says in his article in The Battles and Leaders, that he 
received the following instructions: 

"'You will withdraw the army and place it in the position 
designated on this map,' pointing to a line traced on a field 
sketch. This was perhaps three-quarters of an hour after his 
hurt. He seemed rather dull, but possessed of his mental 
faculties." 

At the time General Hooker ordered Couch to withdraw the 
firing line to the new and last position, it was not then too 
late to save the day. General Couch explains, in his arti- 
cle in the Battles and Leaders, how it could have been 
done by ordering forward batteries and corps which had not 
been engaged, and General Sickles, in his official report, 
confirms Couch's opinion: 

"With the exception of his artillery, which sustained its fire 
and advanced toward Fairview, there was nothing like ardor — in- 
deed, there was every indication of exhaustion — in the advance 
of the enemy after occupying our lines at Fairview. ... It would 
not have been difficult to regain the lost ground with the bayonet, 
as I proposed to do." 

General Sickles made every effort to obtain supports at this 
time, sending a staff officer to the commanders of the troops 
held in the rear to urge them to advance to his support 



254 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

and to save the day, but these officers, among them General 
Meade, were unwilling to move without orders. Meade 
was the first officer notified by Couch that the line was to 
be retired by the order of the commanding general, and, 
doubtless because of that knowledge, refused to comply 
with a request to act contrary to the general's plan. At 
no time, from the crossing of the Rappahannock to the 
withdrawal of the army to the north side, could Hooker have 
been beaten had he fought his army. Every retrograde 
movement from the position gained on the ist day of May, 
by the Fifth and the Twelfth Corps, served to increase his 
difficulties; these, and his failure to follow the request of the 
President made on his visit of the 19th of April, quoted in 
a previous chapter, "in your next fight, put in all your men," 
were the chief causes of the disasters of the campaign. 

Others may be noted, including the sending away of 
his cavalry to operate in the enemy's rear, where its services, 
however brilliant, were, at the best, far less useful than those 
it could have rendered with the army in protecting its flanks 
and, in case of success, in following the enemy's rear and 
cutting off his trains. The leaving of General Butterfield, 
his chief of staff, at the old headquarters at Falmouth, was 
a most serious loss to Hooker. No officer in his command 
was of so much importance to him as General Butterfield, 
and any staff officer could have transmitted Hooker's orders 
from the right wing to Sedgwick as well as Butterfield. 
General Joseph Dickinson, late of Hooker's staff at Chan- 
cellorsville, stated in an address dehvered at Paterson, New 
Jersey, April 9, 1896,^ that General Slocum was responsi- 
ble for Hooker's failure to fight his battle near Tabernacle 
Church; this claim is refuted by the official report of General 
Williams of Slocum's Corps as to the place where Dickinson 



' General Tremain's Two Days of War. 



The Chancellorsville Campaign 255 

found the Twelfth corps, and by General Hooker's dis- 
patch, stating he had recalled the troops, some of whom 
were in position, "on the receipt of news from the other 
side of the river." General Hooker, testifying before the 
Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, 
stated : 

"In my judgment General Sedgwick did not obey the spirit 
of my order, and made no sufficient efifort to obey it. His move- 
ment was delayed so long that the enemy discovered his inten- 
tions; and when that was done, he was necessarily delayed in 
the further execution of the order." 



General Hooker would not have made that statement if 
he had had before him, at the time he testified, his own 
order, the hour of its receipt, and the record of the march. 
No operations of General John Sedgwick, throughout his 
long and distinguished service in the army, which ended by 
a shot from the enemy while he was on the firing line of his 
corps in the battle of the Wilderness, was worthier of high 
commendation than his efforts to comply with Hooker's 
order of May 2, 1863. General Couch in his article, already 
quoted from, contrasts the actions of Hooker with those of 
Sedgwick : 

"Some of the most anomalous occurrences of the war took place 
in this campaign. On the night of May 2nd the commanding 
general, with eighty thousand men in his wing of the army, di- 
rected Sedgwick, with twenty-two thousand, to march to his 
relief. While that officer was doing this on the 3rd, and when it 
would be expected that every effort would be made by the right 
wing to do its part, only one-half of it was fought (or rather half 
fought, for its ammunition was not replenished), and then the 
whole wing withdrawn to a place where it could not be hurt, 
leaving Sedgwick to take care of himself." 



256 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

The official records show that the right wing of Hooker's 
army, consisting of the First, the Third, the Fifth, the Elev- 
enth, and the Twelfth Corps, two divisions of the Second 
Corps, made up of forty-five brigades of infantry, the artil- 
lery of the corps, and Pleasonton's cavalry, remained inactive 
behind the fortified lines, where Hooker withdrew them before 
noon on the 3rd of May, until they crossed to the north side 
of the river on the morning of the 6th of May. In the mean 
time there were in Hooker's front only Generals A. P. Hill's, 
D. H. Hill's, and Trimble's divisions of "Stonewall" Jack- 
son's corps, made up of fifteen brigades of infantry, the artil- 
lery of the corps, and Stuart's cavalry. At 11 o'clock of 
the 3rd of May, General Lee detached from his forces 
the division of General McLaws, and later, General R. H. 
Anderson's division, to intercept Sedgwick. McLaws met 
Sedgwick's column at Salem Church, and Anderson pro- 
ceeded to turn Sedgwick's left flank and cut him ofif from 
Fredericksburg. Sedgwick maintained his position with 
the enemy on three sides of his corps until the night of the 
5th, when he withdrew to the north side under orders sent 
him on the morning of the 4th. 

General Sedgwick was defeated in his efforts to reach 
"the commanding general at Chancellorsville" because 
Hooker did not engage the enemy and retain him in his 
front, but retired to a fortified line when his forces outnum- 
bered the enemy. Here he remained inactive, and General 
Lee retained of his forces to oppose Hooker's wing, a num- 
ber one-third that of Hooker's, and sent two divisions to 
overwhelm Sedgwick. 

Had the ammunition of the Third and the Twelfth Corps 
been replenished on the morning of the 3rd of May, and 
had the First and the Fifth Corps been put into action on 
the 2nd or 3rd of May, the battle of Chancellorsville would 
have been placed at the head of the brilliant victories of the 



The Chancellorsville Campaign 257 

Union Armies, instead of being regarded as one of its most 
humiliating defeats. The noble Army of the Potomac was 
in this campaign severely punished without the slightest 
compensation. Its commanding general was whipped, 
and by reason of his acting contrary to his usual practice, 
and against the sound advice of his able subordinates. 

The casualties in both wings were 1,606 killed, 9,762 
wounded, 5,919 missing, a total of 17,287, including a large 
number of officers, among them Major-General Hiram G. 
Berry killed, and Major-General Amiel W. Whipple mor- 
tally wounded. The Confederates lost 1,581 killed, 8,700 
wounded, 2,018 missing, a total of 12,299, including a large 
number of general officers. General E, F. Paxton was 
b'Ued, Generals A. P. Hill, R. F. Hoke, Henry Heth, W. D. 
Pender, F. T. Nicholls and Samuel McGowan were severely 
wounded, and Lieutenant-General Thomas J. Jackson 
mortally. 

General Thomas J. Jackson was one of the most remark- 
able men brought forward in our Civil War, and one of the 
most unique characters who has held a prominent place 
in the world's fierce contests. His mihtary genius was re- 
cognized by friend and foe. General Lee wrote to him: 

"I have just received your note informing me that you were 
wounded. I cannot express my regret at the occurrence. Could 
I have directed events, I should have chosen, for the good 
of the country, to have been disabled in your stead. I 
congratulate you upon the victory, which is due to your skill 
and energy." 



Later he writes, on receiving news that General Jackson's 
left arm had been amputated : 

"You are better off than I am, for while you have only lost your 
lejt arm, I have lost my rigkt arm." 



258 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

These generous words of praise and tender playful sym- 
pathy were those of one who thoroughly appreciated the 
great ability and phenomenal quahties of his chief subordi- 
nate. Thomas Jonathan Jackson was an American, bom 
in Virginia of Scotch-Irish stock, and a kinsman of Andrew 
Jackson. He was educated at the Military Academy at West 
Point, and had served in the Mexican War, where he won 
honors for skill and bravery. He was reared in the behef 
that the State was sovereign, and that her citizens had the 
right to secede from the Union. On resigning from the 
Regular Army he became a college professor, in which posi- 
tion he occupied himself with the duties of his class-room 
and in studying the Bible, the words and spirit of which so 
completely occupied his mind that every undertaking was 
preceded by prayer and concluded with thanks to the Dis- 
penser of all good. 

His appointment to the command of a regiment by the 
Governor of Virginia, at the beginning of hostilities, was a 
surprise to all but those who knew his West Point standing 
and his record in Mexico. In his first battle at Bull Run, 
he won the sobriquet of "Stonewall" by the firm manner in 
which he held his command to the terrible work of that 
eventful day. Firmness, indomitable courage to stand up 
to punishment, were not his chief or only quahties; in that 
line of action he had many equals. Celerity of movement, 
audacity of attack, generally made in total disregard of all 
prudent considerations, running to the extreme of reckless- 
ness against every hazard, were his chief characteristics; 
yet he chose his points of attack and perfected his plans so 
well that he was uniformly successful. 

The man with whom he can best be compared as a fighter 
is John Paul Jones, commander of the Bon Homme Rich- 
ard. Each inspired his men and led them to the perform- 
ance of deeds for which officers of ordinary ability as fighters 



The Chancellorsville Campaign 259 

would have required twice the number which either com- 
manded in winning great victories. Captain John Paul 
Jones was of Scotch birth, a Virginia colonist, who struck 
one of the first blows in our Revolutionary struggle by knock- 
ing down an Enghsh naval officer in a ball-room in Norfolk, 
Virginia, for words spoken derogatory to American women. 
Our navy will maintain its invincible character so long as 
his spirit inflames the officers on the bridge and the men 
behind the guns. 

General Horace Porter, soldier and diplomat, has well 
performed his part in military and civil life, and deserves 
commendation for his valuable services in matters of great 
concern: but it is certain that his unselfish and unremitting 
efforts to discover the burial place of John Paul Jones, and 
the steps taken to have his remains brought to the country 
he served so well, have tended to enhance in the minds of 
our people the value of General Porter's public services, and 
drawn to him sentiments of affectionate esteem. 

Both of these men, John Paul Jones and "StonewaU" 
Jackson, were great Virginians; Jones a courtier, a dashing 
favorite of royalty, of statesmen, of martial heroes, and of 
fortune as well; Jackson, a modest Christian gentleman, who 
lived the life of an ascetic, not in a desert or in a cell, but 
before the world, illustrating by sincerity and devotion his 
unquestioned faith in the beauty of that philosophy, of which 
Plato wrote, and Milton sang: 

"How charming is divine philosophy! 
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose; 
But musical as is Apollo's lute. 
And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, 
Where no crude surfeit reigns." 

President Roosevelt has drawn still nearer to himself many 
a soldier of our Civil War, men who stood before, as well as 



26o Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

those who stood beside "Stonewall" Jackson, by his recent 
appointment of Jackson's grandson as a cadet at West Point, 
where, it is hoped, he will bring to the best of instruction in 
military science the spirit and genius of his distinguished 
grandfather. 

I have written of General Hooker's failure at Chancellors- 
ville, with no unfriendly feelings toward one who was justly 
esteemed a most splendid fighter, but as one who desires to 
treat all the distinguished participants in that unfortunate 
campaign with fairness, and to permit no favoritism to place 
undeserved responsibility for errors committed on those who, 
from first to last, not only performed all prescribed duties 
faithfully, but went to the extreme of prudence and of strict 
propriety in urging a policy which would have led to success. 
That this spirit has prompted the criticism made, the fol- 
lowing analysis of his character and recognition of his val- 
uable service will readily show. 

General Hooker's forte was that of an aggressive fighter; 
to strike and to strike first was the natural bent of his char- 
acter. He exhibited none of that keen watchfulness which 
enables one to take advantage of an adversary's mistake, to 
strike a counter and telling blow; if he had, he would not, 
with the overwhelming force at his command, have per- 
mitted "Stonewall" Jackson's flank attack to have ended 
with less than his destruction. On arriving at Chancellors- 
ville, he reversed the inclination and habits of a lifetime, 
assumed the defensive, found himself beset with conditions 
with which he was unacquainted, and to meet which he had 
neither the skill nor energy required. 

His title of "Fighting Joe Hooker" was well won at 
WiUiamsburg, Virginia, at South Mountain and Antietam, 
Maryland, and at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Frederick the 
Great said, "A general who never made a mistake is one 
who never fought a battle." It may truthfully be said that 



The Chancellorsville Campaign 261 

Chancellorsville was General Hooker's one mistake. It 
should be remembered also that in all his battles except 
Chancellorsville he executed the instructions of another. 

General Hooker's appointment to the command of the 
Army of the Potomac was earnestly favored by Secretary 
Chase, and supported by a strong public sentiment; it was 
opposed by the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, and by the 
General-in-chief, General Halleck, and, it is believed, had 
the corps commanders been consulted not one would have 
advised it. While there was no change in the opinion of 
those who doubted the wisdom of his appointment, every 
one faithfully supported all his efforts, and none more loyally 
than the corps commanders who saw the most promising 
prospects for a decisive victory turned into a humiliating 
defeat, wholly due to his changing from an aggressive to a 
defensive policy. 

General Hooker's army Ufe was marked by many incidents 
which must have awakened feelings of the most intense 
satisfaction. One was that of his assignment to the com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac, which immediately fol- 
lowed General Burnside's request that Hooker should be 
dismissed from the rolls of the army. This appointment 
was an official endorsement of his ability and services and 
this, too, notwithstanding the biting letter of the President 
which accompanied it. One sentence of that letter should 
never have been written. This sentence, the most unfortu- 
nate ever spoken or penned by President Lincoln in his offi- 
cial life, in which he justly gained the reputation of being one 
of the wisest and best rulers in the world's history, is 
reproduced : 

"I think that during General Burnside's command of the 
army you have taken counsel of your ambition, thwarted him 
as much as you could, in which you did great wrong to the coun- 
try and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer." 



262 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Those who best knew the condition of the Army of the 
Potomac at Falmouth did not credit the charge that Burn- 
side's officers thwarted the plans of the commanding gen- 
eral, or withheld loyal cooperation; they did advise against 
fruitless efforts; that disasters followed their attempted 
execution proved the fault of the plans, not that support 
was withheld. 

The President had construed the prudent advice given 
by General Hooker and other officers of the Army of the 
Potomac as evidence of insubordination and of culpable 
negligence, but when he said "I think you thwarted him," 
and in that belief placed him in command of the army, he 
indicated his readiness to condone the gravest of military 
offences — the unpardonable sin in war — the withholding 
of support in action. Probably no event of Hooker's offi- 
cial life gave him greater pleasure than the words of General 
McClellan, written three days after the battle of Antietam, 
expressing his high commendation of Hooker's ability and 
gallantry in action. I quote the latter part of the letter: 

"Had you not been wounded when you were, I believe the 
result of the battle would have been the entire destruction of the 
rebel army; for I know that with you at its head your corps would 
have kept on until it gained the main wall. As a .slight expres- 
sion of what I think you merit, I have requested that the briga- 
dier-general's commission rendered vacant by Mansfield's death 
be given to you." 



CHAPTER XXV 

SALEM HEIGHTS. THE SIXTEENTH'S LAST BATTLE 

THERE were thirty two-years' regiments from New York 
in the Army of the Potomac (eight of them in the 
Sixth Corps), whose terms of service were about to expire, 
when the preliminary orders were issued for the beginning 
of the Chancellorsville campaign. The superior officers 
felt some concern as to the willingness of these regiments 
to engage in battle immediately before the expiration of 
their term of service. The members of a few regiments had 
expressed the opinion that they were entitled to be discharged 
in two years fiom their enrolment by the State, and, had 
this construction been accepted, many would have been 
discharged in April, for tender of service and enrolment in 
companies had been made as early as the day on which 
President Lincoln called for troops. The correct view, how- 
ever, that their term of two years began on the date of their 
muster into the United States service, was entertained in 
most of the regiments. That was the opinion of the officers 
and men of the Sixteenth, and had been since the question 
was settled on the nth of August, 1861. 

Brigade and division commanders visited certain two- 
years' regiments to discuss the subject, and it was proposed 
to have the Sixteenth addressed. To this proposition, 
Colonel Seaver stated that such effort was quite unnecessary, 
for he could assure them that the regiment was willing to go 
into battle at any time before the actual expiration of their 



264 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

term, and to fight until the battle was decided; that his 
regiment had never marched to the rear at the sound of the 
enemy's guns, unless under orders, and thai all desired to 
participate in the coming battles. In this statement, the 
colonel expressed the sentiments of the officers and of the 
men of the Sixteenth, and no speeches or efforts to persuade 
them were made. Not only without hesitation, but with 
alacrity, the regiment formed for its last battle, many enter- 
ing the ranks who were physically unable to endure the hard- 
ships before them. 

It had been frequently repeated by the Sixteenth that it 
would give them great satisfaction to meet the Fifth Alabama 
Rifles whom they had disturbed at dinner on the first trip 
to Manassas, and the Sixth Alabama Rifles whom Com- 
panies B and G had met in front of the Grigsby House, on 
the 2ist of July, 1861. After exchanging shots, the recalls 
for both sides had been sounded at the same time, and the 
two companies of the Sixteenth returned to their places in 
the battle-hne just in time to witness the advance of Jones* 
brigade of the Fifth South CaroUna, and the Seventeenth 
and the Eighteenth Mississippi regiments, and to see them 
handsomely repulsed by Hunt's and Edwards's batteries. 
They did finally meet the Seventeenth and the Eighteenth 
Mississippi regiments, now under General Barksdale, and 
General John B. Gordon, who was in command of a brigade 
of Georgians instead of the skirmish line of the Sixth Ala- 
bama Rifles, of which he was major in July, 1861. The 
Fifth and Sixth Alabama Rifles, were off among the troops 
"emboldened to attack" General Hooker at Chancellorsville. 
While it did not fall out that the Sixteenth had an oppor- 
tunity to hold other than a sharp and spirited correspond- 
ence with the Mississippians across a very narrow space, 
the fortune of war so ran that a number of the latter with 
the colors of the Eighteenth Mississippi, fell into the hands 



The Sixteenth's Last Battle 265 

of the Sixth Corps. Corporal Henry Rogers and Private 
George Hill of Company D, Sixteenth New York, seized a 
horse, saddled and bridled, belonging to Lieutenant-Colonel 
W. H. Luse of the Eighteenth Mississippi regiment and took 
him to Lieutenant-Colonel Palmer of the Sixteenth. Colonel 
Palmer, disabled by wounds in this action, rode him to the 
rear and took him home to Plattsburgh, New York, where 
he rendered good service to the colonel for many years. 
This horse was unsurpassed under the saddle, but when 
put in harness, he declined to submit to the degradation 
and would not move. A well-bred horse seems to under- 
stand, as well as an intelhgent horseman, that putting a 
horse in harness destroys him for the saddle. 

Never was the Sixteenth put into a hotter fight, and 
never did it show more valor and fortitude than in the bat- 
tle of Salem Heights, where it contended against overwhelm- 
ing numbers. The official reports set forth in glowing 
terms the meritorious conduct of the rank and file, and no 
additional evidence is necessary to signalize their devotion 
to duty. There was one member of the regiment, not of 
the combative class, whose conduct during the five months 
of his service with the regiment deserves special mention. 

At a meeting of the officers of the Sixteenth, called to 
nominate a chaplain. Lieutenant- Colonel Franklin Palmer 
presented the name of the Reverend Francis B. Hall, and 
said that he was a ripe scholar, a good sermonizer, a zeal- 
ous parish worker, and one who would perform the duties 
of chaplain in an acceptable manner. On the receipt of his 
commission, he joined the regiment and fulfilled all that 
was promised of him and more; his practical sound sense, 
his active labors to promote the welfare of all, his sincerity 
and abiding faith in the tmths he taught, his winning man- 
ners and dignified bearing won him the confidence and the 
affection of all. 



266 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Chaplain Hall was the son of an army officer, bred in an 
atmosphere of high ideals, a graduate of Union College and 
of Princeton Theological Seminary, a patriot, and a philan- 
thropist ever seeking out the afflicted to minister to their 
necessities. He accepted no pay for his services, and when 
presented with the pay roll to sign and receive his salary 
he returned it with these words written before his name, 
"I am fully compensated for my services in being given 
an opportunity to serve my country." He was not a rich 
man in the accepted meaning of that term but, with a modest 
competency, he lived with dignity and comfort in Platts- 
burgh, New York, improving every opportunity to promote 
the pubUc weal by his personal labors and timely contri- 
butions. It would fill a large book to tell of his beneficent 
acts in civil life; I wish to write of him as an army chaplain. 
In the battle of Salem Heights, Chaplain Hall, dressed in 
the uniform of his high office and carrying no arms, ad- 
vanced with the firing line, keeping step with the file closers, 
for the sole purpose of ministering to those who might be 
disabled in action. He gave simple treatment to those who 
could go to the rear without assistance, and finding others 
in need of prompt surgical aid, he carried them to the near- 
est stretcher-bearers and returned to the front. When 
the regiment retired, he remained and brought off a wounded 
man. He possessed a most splendid courage and a devotion 
to duty that took no account of danger; no words of elabo- 
ration can exalt his services; the simple narration of them 
will suffice. The superlative of the sublime in human action 
is attained ohly by a combination of fortitude, courage, 
devotion, and a just sense of duty; Chaplain Hall had all 
these qualities, and was moved by an unselfish zeal which 
no obstacle could chill. The expressions of appreciation 
herein given are slight when compared with the action of 
the War Department in granting him a Congressional 



The Sixteenth's Last Battle 267 

Medal of Honor, the ground of award being "For volunta- 
rily exposing himself to a heavy fire during the thickest of 
the fight, and carrying wounded men to the rear for treat- 
ment and attendance, Salem Heights, Virginia, May 3, 
1863." 

This medal was awarded for extraordinary services ren- 
dered in the line of his profession, and is the only Medal of 
Honor ever conferred on an army chaplain for gallant con- 
duct performed within the legitimate sphere of a chaplain's 
duties. There is the record of another Medal of Honor 
having been conferred on a chaplain; "For voluntarily 
carrying a musket in the ranks of his regiment and render- 
ing heroic services in retaking the Federal works which had 
been captured by the enemy." Chaplain Hall marched for- 
ward to give succor to the injured, thus inspiring his com- 
rades to the most heroic efforts ; the other chaplain advanced 
with a warrior's weapon to give physical force, not spiritual 
comfort or reheving assistance to the suffering. 

Major-General Martin T. McMahon, Adjutant- General 
and Chief of Staff of the Sixth Corps, was a recognized au- 
thority on social and military etiquette. He once found an 
army chaplain, behind a barricade, shooting at officers in the 
Confederate hnes, and administered to him such a severe 
lesson on the rules of the service as to non-combatants 
that it is doubtful if the chaplain's mind could have been 
eased by a multitude of medals. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

UNDER THE ENEMY'S FIRE 

THE question most frequently put to a veteran is the 
one which is the most difficult to answer, — "How 
did you feel when going into battle and while under fire?" 
One of the greatest blessings to a soldier is the well estab- 
lished fact, that the vivid impressions which precede and for 
a short time continue in the progress of a battle are soon 
effaced; were it not so his life would be filled with perpetual 
disquietude. I fortunately belong to that optimistic class 
who believe that all things are ordered for the best, and, 
while credited with an excellent memory for the details 
of past events in which I participated, I am able to 
recall only shadowy recollections of the hard experience 
of army hfe, gained in a wide field of operations covering 
every phase of attack and defense. The fear of death is at 
best but momentary, and is only felt when it appears immi- 
nent; as soon as the crisis is past it is the first thing forgot- 
ten. This is not generally understood, for, if it were, the 
behef that the fear of death is a deterrent and a useful agent 
in the suppression of crime, would have no intelligent sup- 
porters. The philospher and the veteran soldier agree that 
it is valueless as a warning. A venerable bishop once said, 
"death is the last thing a man should think about"; and, 
of all the vocations, I beheve those who follow the profes- 
sion of arms are the best observers of the bishop's advice. 

No two men are alike in physical structure or in mental 
endowment, and no two soldiers with whom I have conversed 



Under the Enemy's Fire 269 

report that they had the same feehngs when going into bat- 
tle, nor could any one say that he was similarly affected in 
different battles. The most that any have been able to tell 
of their feelings may be reduced to the simple statement, 
that changes in their normal condition began at the first 
indication that an engagement was to take place. The 
severest test begins with loading, in proximity to the enemy, 
and continues to increase until the engagement becomes gen- 
eral; up to that time speculation causes nervousness, appre- 
hension, dread, sometimes fear, momentarily disturbing 
the equilibrium of the body, the steadiness of the limbs, and, 
in rare cases, causing functional disorders. These effects 
were sometimes produced on brave men who, despite them, 
held their ground, silently struggling to control their emo- 
tions until the paroxysm passed off, which it was certain to 
do as soon as the action became close and furious. Then 
one becomes wholly absorbed in the struggle, firmly holds 
the ground, joins in the charge, or withstands the surging 
assault, totally unmindful of self, and filled with an irre- 
sistible desire to do his utmost. Then it is that the finest 
fibre of his nature is steeled, his tenderest sentiments and 
gentlest feelings become as adamant, and a stoic serenity suc- 
ceeds until the contest ends in victory or defeat. It must 
not be supposed that a soldier, who defends his colors with 
sabre, bayonet, or butt of musket in a hand-to-hand contest, 
or in like manner contends for the possession of a battery or 
in the defense of one, comes forth tempered to the brutish in- 
stincts; but rather refined like metal from the crucible, the 
better elements brightened. The most terrible position in 
which a soldier can be placed is that of being under fire, and 
not permitted, or able, to return it. 

I had no fear of death in battle, for before I was mustered 
into service, I had a presentiment that I should not be killed 
in the army, but would have my eyesight injured. I did. 



270 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

however, feel much concern as to the outcome of each en- 
gagement ; my associates said that my cheeks would be paUid 
for a few moments, and that I invariably turned my cap 
round so that the visor would be at the back of my head, 
and kept it there until the battle was over. This act of 
turning my cap was an unconscious one, and it was regarded 
by my command as a sign that the fight was on. In my last 
battle, I lost the sight of my left eye by the fragment of a 
shell. Although, in two battles, I was advised by surgeons 
on the field that I was mortally wounded, I was never- 
theless at no time shaken in my belief that I should sur- 
vive the war. 

The attempt to analyze the feelings of a soldier going into 
battle, so far as I have been able to recall my own sensa- 
tions, and from questioning many who have had large ex- 
perience in fierce contests, results in separating those emo- 
tions into three general classes : first, the fear of death, which 
is the least disturbing; secondly, the fear of being permanently 
disabled; thirdly, and the most keen of them all, the fear that 
one's bearing and general conduct may discredit him with 
his associates and lose him the consideration of his superi- 
ors. Nothing can be more distressing to a good soldier than 
to have it said that his behavior in action was not manly 
and valorous. The congenital coward, so far as his feehngs 
have been disclosed, was seized with an uncontrollable fear 
of death, from which no appeal to manliness or honor could 
arouse him. Happily, men of this class seldom numbered 
two per cent, of a military organization, and they were in- 
variably found among the bullies and braggarts. Active 
service corrected many false notions as to the characters of 
men. At the beginning of our war, many thought that the 
boastful fisticuffs, the provokers of brawls and those inclined 
to incite quarrels were to gain credit by an exhibition of 
fortitude and valor in battle, and that the well-bred. 



Under the Enemy's Fire 271 

self-respecting, modest gentlemen were the least likely to win 
honors in the fierce conflict of arms. These opinions were 
soon reversed, for "the bravest are the tenderest, the loving 
are the daring." 

Presentiments that one would not survive the next battle 
were frequently discussed, when those who had disclosed to 
comrades their apprehensions and ordered a disposition of 
their effects were found among the killed or mortally wounded. 
The cases of Bishop, Love, and Ploof, previously recorded, 
were by no means the only ones which came to my know- 
ledge. These presentiments or previous notices of death 
came to men of varied character and accomplishments, to 
men in the ranks, and to officers holding important positions. 
I have no acquaintance with so called fortune tellers, or with 
those who profess to hold communion with the other world, 
but I saw so many cases of presentiments which were real- 
ized that, when on one occasion, just before ordering an 
advance in an important battle, (Fort Fisher, North Caro- 
lina) I was apprised of the fact that a brave officer had re- 
ceived a warning, I at once sent word to the officer of next 
rank in the regiment to take a position where he could be 
easily communicated with. Before this officer had reached 
the position indicated, the colonel had received a mortal 
hurt and died without regaining consciousness. Not one 
of the persons who entertained these sentiments ever failed 
to discharge faithfully every duty imposed as promptly as 
any of their associates. That many of these presentiments 
were not realized, or again spoken of, is also true, and no 
confidence can be placed in their infallibility. 

Changes in the methods and implements of warfare have, 
no doubt, tended to modify the sentiments of those contend- 
ing in battle. From the days when soldiers fought with 
javehns and spears down to the introduction of gunpowder, 
personal prowess and physical strength were the essential 



272 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

qualities of an army. Prowess is and always will be an im- 
portant element, but discipline and skill in the use of fire- 
arms and artillery will make efficient soldiers of many who 
would not have been much esteemed in earlier days. Two 
of the world's greatest writers have given us the views 
of men respecting the changes in the implements of war, but 
little or nothing to disclose the feelings of soldiers engaged 
in actual battle. Shakespeare in Henry IV, gives Hotspur's 
views of a popinjay who condemned the use of powder: 

"And it was a great pity, so it was, 
That villanous salt-peter should be digg'd 
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth 
Which many a good tall fellow has destroy'd 
So cowardly; and, but for those vile guns, 
He would himself have been a soldier." 



These ideas may have been gained from his contemporary 
Cervantes, a brave soldier who gained honors and wounds 
in the battle of Lepanto, and who lamented the use of gun- 
powder and artillery, as appears in the oration on "Arms 
and Letters" of his hero, Don Quixote: 

"Happy those ages which knew not the dreadful fury of artil- 
lery: — those instruments of hell (where I verily believe the in- 
ventor is now receiving the reward of his diabolical ingenuity), 
by means of which the cowardly and the base can deprive the 
bravest soldier of life. While a gallant spirit animated with heroic 
ardor is pressing to glory, comes a chance ball sent by one who 
perhaps fled in alarm at the flash of his own accursed weapon, 
and in an instant cuts short the life of him who deserved to live 
for ages. When I consider this, I almost repent having under- 
taken this profession of knight-errantry in so detestable an age; 
for though no danger can daunt me, still it gives me some con- 
cern to thmk that powder and lead may suddenly cut short my 
career of glory." 



Under the Enemy's Fire 273 

The effectiveness of the musket and cannon of Cervantes' 
day was hardly one-fifth as great as it was in our Civil War, 
and since then the improvements in "those instruments of 
hell" have increased tenfold the range and the penetrating 
power of projectiles. Many believed, at the close of our war 
in 1865, that the assaulting of entrenched lines and the use 
of the bayonet had come to an end; yet the war in the far 
East has shown that, notwithstanding the great improve- 
ment in firearms, the addition of rapid fire and machine 
guns, and the general use of torpedoes, grenades, and barbed 
wire entanglements, close action can still be practised. 
Great as have been the losses in the battles in the far East, 
no battle on the open field has been attended by so large a 
percentage of casualties as were sustained in the battles 
between Americans, in determining the seat of sovereignty. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

MEDICAL CARE AND HOSPITAL LIFE 

POORLY prepared as the Government was, at the begin- 
ning of the war, for conducting great mihtary opera- 
tions, it is believed that the Medical Department was in 
the worst condition of any branch of the public service. 
This was not due to the character and qualifications of its 
officers, but to the fact that Congress had neglected to make 
proper provision for its needs and for the progress made in 
the profession. It may safely be said that Congress has, even 
to the present day, neglected to give proper consideration to 
that branch, or make suitable provision for its improvement. 
The war between Russia and Japan has taught the nations 
that they have much to do to raise their medical departments 
to the high state of efficiency maintained in the Japanese 
army. Our medical officers have been given meagre com- 
pensation, uncertain and, at the best, slow advancement, 
the most competent never attaining more than third or fourth 
rate recognition. This department of the army has certainly 
not been an inviting field for men of talent and marked skill, 
yet many have entered the Medical Corps from higher 
motives than the simple rewards of rank and compensation, 
and have brought to it high attainments and skill which 
placed them among the first of their noble profession. 

During the Civil War the surgeons-general of the States 
required that applicants for appointment, as surgeons and 
assistant surgeons of regiments entering the field, should 
submit to a most thorough examination to establish their 



Medical Care and Hospital Life 275 

fitness for the position sought; yet many who passed the 
technical examination were utterly incompetent to discharge 
the duties required, and, in some cases, physicians sought 
the positions merely for the purpose of perfecting themselves 
in surgery ; but a majority of the medical officers were com- 
petent and faithful. 

The camps were located by their commanders "at or 
near" some stated positions, without the advice of an officer 
of the engineer or medical branches of the service, no thought 
being given to sanitary conditions. These evils were aug- 
mented by bad cooking, the open sale in the camps by sutlers 
and "pie peddlers" of the most unwholesome trash, and the 
use of contaminated water; these conditions had to be met as 
best they could by officers totally ignorant of the proper care 
of men, their drill, and discipHne. The regimental hospitals 
had few facilities for properly caring for the sick, no special 
diet, no trained nurses, seldom cots, and, generally, a rubber 
and a woolen blanket as their only bedding. The most in- 
telligent surgeons protested against these methods, but with 
little avail. General hospitals, to which the worst cases 
were sent, were better provided for, but the red-tape which 
had to be unwound left many to die in camp, whose recovery 
might have been speedily secured in a well appointed hos- 
pital. The cases previously mentioned illustrate the dif- 
ference between good hospital care under a competent 
surgeon, and the facilities and care of an ordinary field 
hospital. 

The system of caring for the sick and wounded was greatly 
improved as the war progressed, and the Government doubt- 
less had this branch of the service as efficiently managed as 
in other countries. It is not the intention of the writer to 
follow the steps taken by the Government officials to bring 
about the important changes that were effected, but to notice 
more particularly the unofi&cial and unpaid labors of the 



276 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

noble men and women who came forward to supply defici- 
encies in material, and to care, not only for the sick and 
wounded in general hospitals throughout the country, but 
for those in the regimental camps and field hospitals. 

What these unselfish patriots accomplished in the camps, 
the field hospitals, and the general hospitals established in 
Northern cities, is well understood and appreciated by those 
who fell under their care, but too little consideration has been 
given in the official reports and war papers to the magnitude 
and importance of the services rendered by organized asso- 
ciations and by individuals. The scope of this work wiU 
not admit of more than a brief reference to the most impor- 
tant association, "The United States Sanitary Commis- 
sion," which raised from voluntary contributions by the 
people and disbursed in medical supplies to the sick and 
wounded soldiers, twenty-five millions of dollars. 

Important as was the work of the Sanitary Commission, 
in providing articles not furnished by the Medical Depart- 
ment of the army, it was indeed very small when compared 
with the inestimable services of the patriotic and devoted 
women who nursed and cared for the men disabled by wounds 
and disease. Although no complete history of the Sani- 
tary Commission has ever yet been written, much interest- 
ing and valuable information relating to its purpose and 
work can be obtained from The United States Sanitary 
Commission edited by Miss Katharine Prescott Wormeley, 
pubhshed by Little, Brown and Company; from The Other 
Side of War by the same author, published by the Command- 
ery of the State of Massachusetts, Military Order of the 
Loyal Legion of the United States, and from Hospital Trans- 
ports compUed by Mrs. Kirkland, pubhshed by Ticknor 
and Fields; and from the letters and journals of those engaged 
in this service. 

As late as August, 1861, there were no chaplains in the 



Medical Care and Hospital Life 277 

Washington and Alexandria Hospitals, and frequently "no 
one at hand to read or pray for a dying man, or to conduct 
the funeral services of the dead." Miss Georgeanna M. 
Woolsey wrote to President Lincoln asking that chaplains 
should be appointed, but no action was taken; then Mrs. 
Rowland wrote to Colonel Van Rensselaer, of General 
Scott's staff, and received the following letter: 

"Headquarters of the Army, 
Washington, August, 1861. 
My dear Mrs. Howland: If you will send me the names of per- 
sons you want appointed to act as Chaplains for Hospitals, I will 
get the Lieutenant-General to give them (not a regular commis- 
sion) but an authority to visit and have access to the Hospitals 
at all times. This will invest with full authority but no rank or 
emolument. 

''Very truly yours, 

"H. Van Rensselaer."* 



Following this letter, Mrs. Howland wrote to Professor 
H. B. Smith of the Union Theological Seminary in New 
York City, asking him to suggest the right man; he recom- 
mended Mr. Henry Hopkins, son of President Mark Hop- 
kins of Williams College, who accepted the position and 
held it until May, 1864, when he was appointed chaplain 



' Henry Van Rensselaer resigned from the United States Army soon after 
his graduation from West Point, and erected a fine mansion at Woodford, 
on the St. Lawrence River, west of Ogdensburg. During his residence in 
Northern New York he managed his large holdings of real estate, and took 
an active interest in pubHc aiJairs having been elected in 1840 a Represen- 
tative in Congress, the only Whig Representative ever chosen in that dis- 
trict. In the fifties, he sold his lands to settlers from New England and 
Great Britain, and removed to New York City. At the opening of the Civil 
War, he was appointed Colonel and Aide-de-Camp on the staff of Lieu- 
tenant-General Scott. 



278 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

of the One Hundred and Twentieth New York, in which 
he served until the regiment was mustered out in June, 
1865. 

It would be difficult to overestimate the value of Chaplain 
Hopkins's service, or the embarrassments he encountered 
in performing his unselfish labors without actual rank. His 
success was wholly due to his good sense and native tact. 
Few could write reminiscences of that period which would 
be more interesting and valuable than those Chaplain Hop- 
kins could give, and the incidents he might relate would 
bring to the present and coming generations lessons in prac- 
tical humanity and in Christian charity. The experiences 
then gained were valuable in his preparation for a success- 
ful ministry in Kansas City, Missouri, and for his later labors 
as the President of Williams College, where he has main- 
tained a standard worthy of the son of one of the most dis- 
tinguished educators of his time. 

The Sixteenth New York was more fortunate than many 
regiments in the character and qualifications of its medical 
officers; it was more favored than others, for it had a reserve 
force that was never failing. Mrs. Charles W. Woolsey had 
taken an active part in providing hospitals, in New York 
and elsewhere, with clothing and delicacies at the beginning 
of the war, and when her son-in-law, Joseph Howland, 
joined the Sixteenth as adjutant, the Woolsey family took 
the sick and wounded of the regiment under their especial 
care. When the Sixteenth went to the Peninsula, in April, 
1862, Mrs. Howland and her sister came to the York River 
on a Hospital Transport and sent articles of special diet 
to the sick in the camps, and, after battles, they with the other 
ladies of the Sanitary Commission cared for the wounded as 
they were brought in from the front. It was a standing re- 
quest of Mrs. Howland that she should be informed of the 
name and destination of every member of her husband's 



Medical Care and Hospital Life 279 

regiment who was sent North for treatment, and she caused 
some person of her acquaintance to visit the hospital in 
which they were quartered to see that proper care was given 
them. The personal attention paid the sick on the Peninsula 
by Mrs. Howland was pleasantly recognized by First Lieu- 
tenant Royal Corbin in the following poem: 

"In Camp on the Chickahominy, June 12, 1862. 

"From old Saint Paul till now, 
Of honorable women not a few 
Have quit their golden ease, in love to do 
The saintly works that Christ-like hearts pursue. 

Such an one art thou, God's fair apostle, 
Bearing His love in war's horrific train; 
Thy blessed feet follow its ghastly pain 
And misery and death, without disdain. 

To one borne from the sullen battle's roar, 
Dearer the greeting of thy gentle eyes, 
When he aweary, torn and bleeding lies. 
Than all the glory that the victors prize. 

When peace shall come, and home shall smile again, 
Ten thousand soldiers' hearts, in Northern climes. 
Shall tell their little children, with their rhymes. 
Of the sweet saint who blessed the old war times." 



Nearly half the term of the regiment had expired before 
any of its members were killed or seriously wounded in action. 
At the battle of West Point, Virginia, May 7, 1862, as has 
been stated. Companies F and G lost six killed and ten 
wounded; five of the latter were seriously hurt, and four, 
Corporal James Cook, Company F, and Privates Thomas B. 
Chilton, Louis Perrin and Oliver Wells, Company G, were 



28o Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

permanently disabled and discharged from the army. I, 
with the four above named of the Sixteenth, and a 
number from other regiments of the Sixth Corps, was 
carried on board the steamer Wilson Small, the headquar- 
ters of the United States Sanitary Commission, on May 9, 
1862. 

The members of the Sanitary Commission, on duty on the 
Wilson Small during the time I was a patient, were as follows : 

Mr. Frederick Law Olmstead, New York City, General 
Secretary of the Commission, in command; Mr. Frederick 
N. Knapp, Massachusetts, Assistant Secretary, second in 
command; Dr. Robert Ware, Boston, Massachusetts, Chief 
Surgeon; Drs. George Wheelock and David Haight, New 
York City, Assistant Surgeons; Mrs. Henry W. Bellows, New 
York City, wife of the President of the Commission; Mrs. 
George T. Strong, New York City, wife of the Treasurer 
of the Commission; Mrs. WiUiam Prescott GriflBn, New 
York City; Mrs. Joseph Rowland, Fishkill-on-Hudson, 
New York; Miss Georgeanna M. Woolsey, New York City; 
Miss Katharine Prescott Wormeley, Newport, Rhode Island ; 
Mrs. John A. Balestier, New York City; Miss Helen L. Gil- 
son, Chelsea, Massachusetts; Miss Mary Gardiner; Miss 
Harriet Douglas Whetten, New York City; and Miss Butler, 
New York City. 

Corporal Cook's leg had been amputated before coming 
on the boat, but Oliver Wells's arms were still a subject of 
discussion between the surgeons. He had been shot through 
both elbows, and the opinion had been pretty generally con- 
curred in that both arms should be taken off in order to save 
his life. Mrs. Howland decided the question, and Wells 
kept his arms and carried them to his grave, thirty-seven 
years later. 

The writer's wound was less severe than at first appeared, 
and there is some comfort in reading Miss Wormeley's ref- 



Medical Care and Hospital Life 281 

erenceto it, and in finding an inch added to his stature, instead 
of, as is sometimes the case, two or three inches cut off. She 
says : 

"Last evening we parted from all our poor fellows, except 
Captain Curtis, the extensive hero, who is said today to have a 
chance for life. He is said to measure six feet seven inches, — 
and I believe it, looking at him as he lies on a cot pieced out at 
the foot with two chairs." 

Several of those taken on board the Wilson Small were 
reported mortally wounded, but only one died; those who 
lived owed their lives to the care received from these patri- 
otic and devoted women. 

While all the ladies of the Sanitary Commission gave atten- 
tion to our wounded, those of the Sixteenth were the special 
care of Mrs. Rowland and her sister. On the i6th of May, 
I, with William H. Bell of my company, whom Colonel 
Rowland ordered to remain with me until I was put into a 
general hospital, were put on board the Knickerbocker, which 
was sent up the Potomac with three hundred sick, and my- 
self the only one wounded ; Miss Helen L. Gilson was placed 
in charge. She was possessed of a high order of executive 
abihty and managed the small force at her disposal so effec- 
tively that, although every part of the steamer was filled 
with soldiers, with merely sufficient space for the attendants 
to pass through, good order was maintained, and a degree 
of comfort secured that was exceptional in all my experi- 
ence on crowded Government transports. Miss Gilson had 
come on board the Wilson Small before I was transferred to 
the Knickerbocker, and was brought to my cot by Mrs. How- 
land, who presented me as a member of her husband's regi- 
ment and one to receive special care. On Saturday, the 17th 
of May, the Knickerbocker passed down the York River, and 
at sunset turned toward the Potomac. It was a rare even- 



282 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

ing as we passed Gloucester Point and, entering the waters 
of Chesapeake Bay, left behind us the busy activities which 
enlivened the base of army supplies and its single line of 
communication. It was a cloudless sky, the moon was 
entering its third quarter, and the stars gave a soft light, so 
that no lamps were necessary except in the interior cabins; 
all was still but the laboring engine, the immense side wheels, 
and the occasional moan which escaped the lips of a sufferer 
in the crisis of a fever. At this time, when making the last 
round of inspection, before going to the cabin to be with those 
whose condition needed constant watching, Miss Gilson 
stopped at my cot and spoke encouragingly of the condition 
of her patients, saying they were about to receive such care 
in the hospitals to which they were going that in a short 
time they would be well and back at the front. Standing 
in the dim light of the moon and stars, she sang a sweet 
evening hymn, and then "America," renewing in the sick 
men their patriotic devotion to the land they had offered 
their lives to save. In later years I read the following trib- 
ute to this brave woman, whose life was a benediction to 
thousands whom she nursed in mihtary camps and hospitals. 
It is reproduced from Hospital Life in the Army 0} the Po- 
tomac, by William Howell Reed. 

"One afternoon, just before the evacuation, when the atmos- 
phere of our rooms was close and foul, and all were longing for 
a breath of our cooler Northern air, while the men were moaning 
with pain, or were restless with fever, and our hearts were sick 
with pity for the sufferers, I heard a light step upon the stairs; 
and looking up I saw a young lady enter, who brought with her 
such an atmosphere of calm and cheerful courage, so much fresh- 
ness, such an expression of gentle, womanly sympathy, that her 
mere presence seemed to revive the drooping spirits of the men, 
and to give a new power of endurance through the long and pain- 
ful hours of suffering. First with one, then at the side of another. 



Medical Care and Hospital Life 283 

a friendly word here, a gentle nod and smile there, a tender sym- 
pathy with each prostrate sufferer, a sympathy which could read in 
his eyes his longing for home love, and for the presence of some 
one — in these few minutes hers was indeed an angel ministry. 
Before she left the room she sang to them, first some stirring na- 
tional melody, then some sweet or plaintive hymn to strengthen 
the fainting heart; and I remember how the notes penetrated to 
every part of the building. Soldiers with less severe wounds, 
from the rooms above, began to crowd out into the entries, and 
men from below crept up on their hands and knees to catch every 
note, and to receive the benediction of her presence — for such 
it was to them. Then she went away. I did not know who she 
was, but I was as much moved and melted as any soldier of them 
all. This is my first reminiscence of Helen L. Gilson." 

I had requested to be sent to Fairfax Street Hospital that 
I might be cared for by Dr. James Robertson; so when the 
Knickerbocker reached Alexandria, I was carried to the 
dock on my cot, and the steamer proceeded to Washington 
where all the others were placed in hospitals. My attend- 
ant sent a note to Dr. James Robertson, notifying him that I 
was on the dock ; he came with stretcher-bearers and I was 
carried to his hospital and my wound dressed. 

The Fairfax Street Hospital had been designated to receive 
enlisted men, and the admittance of an officer w^as a viola- 
tion of regulations which no one but Surgeon Sumner, who 
was in charge of the Alexandria hospitals, could suspend. 
Dr. Robertson's difficulties, growing out of his kindness to 
me, are stated in a letter to Mrs. Howland, in reply to one 
asking to be informed of my progress : 

"Fairfax Street Hospital, Alexandria, Virginia. 

"May 23, 1862. 
"Dear Madam: — 

"I today received your feeling letter. Sunday morning at 
six o'clock, I was informed that my good friend Captain Cur- 



284 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

tis had arrived on a steamer. I immediately went to the dock 
and had him taken to my hospital and put into my own room. 
During last winter an order was issued by the surgeon-general not 
to admit any officers into the wards of my hospital. For fear 
that my superior officer, Dr. Sumner, would find fault, I immedi- 
ately wrote him a polite note, stating that my friend, a gallant 
officer who was shot through the chest at West Point battle, had 
arrived and that I had taken him to my hospital — that he was 
in a private room, — and hoped he would not consider it a viola- 
tion of the order. He immediately sent for me, and told me I 
must take Captain Curtis to a private room in the city and wait 
upon him there. I replied that I could not see the propriety of 
such an order, that the case was a dangerous one and secondary 
hemorrhage might occur at any time, but, if he insisted, I would 
obey his command. 

"I left his presence so indignant that I thought I would 
directly resign and take my friend to some comfortable place and 
attend to him until he recovered. Dr. Sumner followed and 
overtook me before I reached my hospital, and said he would 
look at the room. Fearing he might say something to the cap- 
tain, which on account of his weak condition might excite him, 
I said 'Dr., whatever you have to say in the matter, say it to me.' 
The result of the visit was, that I was allowed to keep the captain 
in my own room where he has since been. 

"It would give me great pleasure to have a ward or two reserved 
for officers, and, as you have frequently been in this house since 
I took charge eight months ago, you know it is a very pleasant 
little house. 

"It would surprise you to see how our friend has improved. 
I have used compression, and to-day hardly a drop of matter 
has discharged. The captain has been walking about his room 
all day and talks of having a carriage to-morrow and taking a 
drive. He has a fine appetite and has lost all that haggard look 
he had when he came here. He is lively and jovial as ever, can 
get out of bed and walk without staggering. You can, there- 
fore, inform your husband (whom the captain really adores and 
b constantly telling how very kind you have both been to him), 



Medical Care and Hospital Life 285 

that he has ordered a new uniform and will be back to head his 
company again in two or three weeks. 
"I am, with greatest respect, 

"Your most obedient servant, 

"James Robertson." 



While I had heard of Chaplain Hopkins's visits to the dif- 
ferent hospitals in which members of the Sixteenth were 
patients, it was not until I entered Dr. Robertson's hospital 
that I fell under his watchful care. He came at the request 
of Mrs. Rowland to ascertain my condition and to see that 
I was receiving proper attention. He had obtained an ex- 
aggerated opinion of the severity of my wound, for he said, 
"Captain Curtis, I am sure that the Lord has some great 
work for you to perform, else he would not have preserved 
your life when you were so seriously wounded." I greatly 
fear that my reply was not in keeping with his dignified 
bearing and solemn words, for I answered in a cheerful 
tone, " Chaplain, I am inclined to the opinion that the Lord 
will not call upon me to undertake the service you suggest, 
until after sixty days have passed." A broad smile lighted 
his countenance and he replied, "I like your buoyant spirit, 
and hope that you may ever be able to look on the bright 
side of life." 

All of Mrs. Woolsey's family, her daughters, her only son, 
and her sons-in-law were enlisted in the field or hospital 
service. Mrs. Robert S. Howland wrote many beautiful 
poems which were eagerly read in the camps and hospitals 
throughout the war. Chief among them were "A Message 
from the Army," "A Rainy Day in Camp," "In the Hospi- 
tal," and "Mortally Wounded." The last is reproduced as 
a faithful picture of a not uncommon incident in our army 
experience, and to correct an error into which several writers 
of wartime events and its literature have fallen, in ascribing 



286 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

this poem to others than Mrs. Howland. One attributed 
it to an officer who is said to have dictated it just before 
his death, and others have credited it to nameless soldiers 
and army chaplains. 



'MORTALLY WOUNDED" 

I lay me down to sleep, 
With little thought or care 

Whether my waking find 
Me here— or THERE! 

A bowing, burdened head. 

Only too glad to rest, 
Unquestioning, upoil 

A Loving breast. 

My good right hand forgets 

Her cunning now; 
To march the weary march 

I know not how. 

I am not eager, bold. 

Nor strong, — all that is past! 
I am willing not to do, 

At last, at last! 

My half-day's work is done. 
And this is all my part: 

I give a patient God 
My patient heart; 

And grasp His banner still, 
Though all its blue be dim; 

These stripes, no less than stars, 
Lead after Him. 



Medical Care and Hospital Life 287 

Weak, weary and uncrowned, 

I yet to bear am strong; 
Content not even to cry 

"How long! How long!" 



Women nurses, during our Civil War, were pioneers in 
a new field in our military policy. The Government had 
authorized their work, but the army surgeons were reluc- 
tant to have them employed and, in many cases, made their 
lives as unbearable as possible, that they might be forced 
in self-defense to leave the hospitals. Delicate, refined, and 
cultured women were often directed to perform the hardest 
and most menial labor, to subsist upon poor fare, and to rest 
at night upon wretched beds ; yet they endured these annoy- 
ances for the double purpose of making more comfortable 
the sick and the dying soldiers, and to win a standing place 
for others to carry forward their beneficent work. Their 
persistence was crowned with the full acknowledgment 
of the importance and of the essential need of women nurses 
in hospitals. 

It must not be believed that all volunteers to do hospital 
duty were useful workers, for "professional philanthro- 
pists" put in their appearance also, and disturbed by their 
presence the labors of the patient and efficient surgeons 
and nurses. Not all of this class were as easily deterred 
from burdening those at the front with their professional 
sympathy, as the one referred to by Mrs. Woolsey, in a letter 
to her daughters on the York River: 

"Miss H. and a lady friend were ushered in upon me this 
morning, the latter wishing to know all the particulars about 
the position of lady nurses down at Yorktown, and what was 
particularly required of them, as she had started from home 
with a 'strong impulse' to offer her services. All that I could 
tell her was that 'a desire to be useful, plain common sense, 



288 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

energetic action, fortitude, and a working apron were some of 
the absolute essentials; — not to be a looker-on, but a doer — 
to take hold with a good will and a kind heart.' She left with 
a feeling that perhaps she could be quite as useful without going 
to Yorktown; I have no doubt she can." 

The other, and far more troublesome and objectionable, 
class, was generally regarded with the feelings expressed 
by Dr. Tripler, to one of the Sanitary Commission; 

"I am pestered by volunteer surgeons, who leave their business 
at home to have a short holiday professional excursion, and who 
always expect to be put in the * imminent deadly breach ' at once. 
I have not tents, horses, forage, or table-room for them." 

The one to whom this statement was made writes to a 
friend in New York: 

"Don't let any more surgeons come here, if you can help it. 
We try to treat them civilly, but all, ashore and afloat, feel 
anything but civilly to a man when he graciously proposes to be 
entertained and sent to the front as an honored guest, because, 
you understand, he is not one of your 'physicians' but a 'surgeon,' 
and not at all unwilling to take an interesting gunshot case in 
hand, though everybody declines it. If there is anything the 
regimental surgeons hate, it is to let these magnanimous surgical 
pretenders (it is of the pretenders I speak) get hold of their pet 
cases." 

The recent reorganization of the American Red Cross So- 
ciety gives promise for the future, of an organization which 
will utilize and turn into proper charmels the efforts of earnest 
and patriotic citizens, and at the same time will relieve the 
Medical Department, to a great extent, of the disturbing 
interference of meddlesome busybodies of the kinds above 
described. This organization will, it is hoped, do much in 



Medical Care and Hospital Life 289 

future wars to assist and supplement the military medical 
establishment, both as to supplies and trained personnel for 
the administration of hospitals. 

I find no better words, with which to close this chapter, 
than those of the Reverend Sidney G. Osborne of England, 
who visited the hospitals at Scutari, where many British 
officers and soldiers were sent for treatment in the Crimean 
War. 

"The hospital is only, after all, a part of the battle-field; it 
is a crowd of those who have fought, and who, fighting, have, 
through wounds or weakness, had to fall back from active service 
to passive suffering. They are still, as it were, in the ranks; 
still on duty to recover, to return, to die, or to be invalided at home. 

"If death does come to them on their beds, it is still a soldier's 
death; a letter or two may be dictated to a friend; some mes- 
sage sent to a brother officer; a quick, calm, distribution of effects 
at hand made; gratitude expressed to those who so kindly ever 
support their brother soldiers in those moments; these, with the 
brief services the chaplain can offer, form the chief features of 
the last scene in the lives of these men. It is a battle-field death, 
just postponed until the victim has joined the hospital ranks." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE SIXTH CORPS 

THE Sixteenth New York was the senior regiment of 
Frankhn's division, and of the Sixth Corps. Soon 
after it was mustered out of service, the One Hundred and 
Sixth regiment, also raised in Northern New York, was 
assigned to that corps and continued with it until the close 
of the war. The people of that section have always felt a 
great interest and pride in the magnificent record made by 
the Sixth Corps, and in those feelings of appreciation I 
heartily share. In nearly five years of army life I served 
in seven corps, and for each entertain warm feelings of at- 
tachment, particularly for the Tenth and the Twenty-fourth ; 
but I cannot recall my experience in the Sixteenth regiment 
and the Sixth Corps without expressing my grateful acknow- 
ledgment for the instruction there received in the science 
and art of war from my superior officers. To General 
Franklin and to General Slocum, I feel indebted for my first 
promotion, and to General W. F. Smith, for my first assign- 
ment to the command of a brigade. These facts will justify 
the following references to the commanding officers and to 
the unsurpassed record of the Sixth Corps. 

The official reports contain no reference to brigade com- 
manders, more generous and just than that of General Will- 
iam H. T. Brooks, in his report of the battle of Salem Heights: 

"Whatever of excellence this division may possess, I beg 
leave to attribute to the manner in which the respective bri- 
grades have been commanded. " 



The Sixth Corps 291 

General Brooks, whom his soldiers affectionately called 
"Bully Brooks," was a man as modest and devoid of self- 
seeking as he was conspicuous for skill and personal brav- 
ery in action; hence his endorsement carried all the praise 
the words indicated, and will be used as an introduction to 
brief notices of prominent officers of the Sixth Corps. 

General William B, Franklin, in September, 1861, was 
placed in command of a division consisting of three brigades. 
In May, 1862, at White House, Virginia, General William 
F. Smith's division of three brigades was joined with his, 
and formed the Sixth Corps, which Frankhn commanded 
until General Burnside organized the "Grand Divisions," 
when he was assigned to the command of the "Left Grand 
Division," and continued to command it until he was re- 
lieved from duty in the Army of the Potomac, in January, 
1863. General Franklin was an officer of great ability, 
standing among those of the first rank in the army. He 
served throughout the war as a subordinate, where his com- 
manding abilities and usefulness were minimized by the fact 
that, except when under General McClellan, he was the 
superior in capacity and military skill of every commander 
to whom he reported. General Grant, on assuming com- 
mand of the armies, desired to give him an important 
command, but his wishes were denied by Secretary of War 
Stanton. General Grant knew his old classmate at West 
Point, his fibre, and his great abilities. 

General Phihp Kearny, the commander of Franklin's 
First Brigade, was the first to rise to the command of a divi- 
sion, which, on the organization of corps, became a division 
in the Third Corps; and had he not early been killed in 
action, he would doubtless have been given command of a 
corps, and probably of an army. 

General Henry W. Slocum, the commander of Franklin's 
Second Brigade, rose to the command of the First Division, 



292 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

on Franklin's promotion to the command of the corps; and 
subsequently to the command of the Twelfth Corps, the 
Twentieth Corps, the Army of Georgia, and the "Left Wing" 
of Sherman's consoUdated armies, on the march to the sea. 
General Slocum's record was exceptional; the confidence of 
the authorities in his capacity increased with every step he 
advanced in command, for they found that he possessed 
the essential qualities of a great commander. 

General John Newton, the commander of the Third bri- 
gade of Franklin's division, rose to the command of the 
Third Division of the Sixth Corps, and the command of 
the First Corps. Major- General John Newton shared with 
Major-General George H. Thomas the marked distinction 
of rendering invaluable service to the Union cause, although 
bom and bred a Virginian. 

General William F. Smith (called "Baldy", his West 
Point sobriquet, by his intimates), on joining the Sixth Corps, 
commanded a division of three brigades, which became the 
Second Division. 

General W. S. Hancock, commander of the First brigade, 
won at Williamsburg, Virginia, his title of ''Superb," which 
he carried in all his later battles in the Sixth, and in com- 
mand of the Second Corps. 

General William H. T. Brooks commanded the Second 
Brigade, the Vermonters whom General Smith had organ- 
ized; rose to the command of the First Division, Sixth 
Corps; a division in the Eighteenth Corps; and to the tem- 
porary command of the corps. 

General John W. Davidson, commander of the Third 
brigade, won distinction in the corps, and, later, in com- 
manding a cavalry division in the Western armies. 

General William F. Smith, at the battle of Williamsburg, 
pointed out to General Sumner, the officer in command, the 
weak place in the enemy's line and asked to be permitted 



The Sixth Corps 293 

to advance his division to occupy it; the request was denied. 
When he finally got Hancock's brigade forward, although 
once halted and once directed to retire, its operations were 
attended with such favorable results that there is no doubt 
that, had General Smith's plans been carried out, and Han- 
cock supported as he could have been, the battle would have 
ended in an overwhelming victory. Johnston's army could 
not have marched up the peninsula in order, and General 
Hooker would have had no occasion for using the stinging 
words : 

"History will not be believed, when it is told that the noble 
ofl&cers and men of my division were permitted to carry on this 
unequal struggle from morning until night unaided, in the pres- 
ence of more than thirty thousand of their comrades with arms 
in their hands. Nevertheless, it is true." 



General Smith rose to the command of the Sixth Corps; 
was transferred to the Ninth Corps; assigned to the com- 
mand of raw troops in Pennsylvania during the Gettys- 
burg campaign; then to duty in West Virginia; and, in the 
fall of 1863, was made Chief Engineer of the Department 
and Army of the Cumberland, on the staff of General Rose- 
crans. It was here that he had an opportunity to prove 
that he was a great engineer, an able strategist, and a suc- 
cessful tactician, and entitled to be classed as one of the 
great commanders. He was credited, by officers whose 
opinions are entitled to the fullest consideration, with having 
saved the Army of the Cumberland from starvation and 
capture. The claim for such great service as this needs to 
be supported by the best of evidence; it is furnished by 
Major-General James H. Wilson, Inspector-General on 
General Grant's staff during the period referred to, in A 
Sketch of the Life and Service of Major-General William 



294 ^^11 ^^^ ^^ Chancellorsville 

Farrar Smith, United States Volunteers. This sketch is 
a most interesting and valuable contribution to our war 
literature; its one fault is that it is not on public sale. From 
it I quote : — 

"The separate departments in the Mississippi Valley were 
consolidated into a grand military division, under the supreme 
command of General Grant, and what turned out to be of almost 
equal importance was the fact that Brigadier-General William F. 
Smith was assigned at once to duty as Chief Engineer of the 
Department and Army of the Cumberland. Fortunately, this 
gave him the control, not only of the engineer troops and mate- 
rials and the engineer operations of that army, but carried with 
it the right and duty of knowing the army's requirements and 
condition, as well as all the plans which might be considered for 
extricating it from the extraordinary perils and difficulties which 
surrounded it. . . . 

"Every general in the Army of the Cumberland knew that 
it needed and must have supplies, and that the only way to get 
them, without falling back, was to open and keep open the direct 
road or 'cracker line' to Bridgeport. But how and when this 
was to be done, was the question. General Smith in consulta- 
tion with his superiors worked out the plan as to how, when, and 
by what means the short supply line by the way of Brown's Ferry 
and the Lookout Valley should be opened and maintained. He 
certainly secured its adoption, first by Thomas and afterwards 
by Grant, and, finally, when he had arranged all the details of 
the complicated and delicate operations, and had prepared all the 
engineer's materials and pontoons which were required, he per- 
sonally commanded the troops and carried that part of the plan 
which was based on Chattanooga to a successful conclusion. 

"Grant made haste to attach him to his own staff, and to re- 
commend him for promotion to the grade of major-general to 
rank from the date of original appointment, declaring in support 
of his recommendation, that he felt 'under more than ordinary 
obligation for the masterly manner in which he had discharged 
the duties of his position;' adding: 'He is possessed of one of the 



The Sixth Corps 295 

clearest military heads in the army, is very practical and indus- 
trious,' and emphasized it all with the highest eulogistic declara- 
tion, that ' no man in the army is better qualified than he for the 
largest military command.' 

"General George H. Thomas, the soul of honor and fair deal- 
ings, on the 20th of November, 1863, although General Smith 
had already been transferred from his own to the staff of General 
Grant, formally recommended him for promotion in the following 
striking and comprehensive words: 'For industry and energy 
displayed by him from the time of his reporting for duty at these 
headquarters, in organizing the Engineer Department, and for his 
skilful execution of the movements at Brown's Ferry, Tennes- 
see, on the night of October 26, 1863, in surprising the enemy 
and throwing a pontoon bridge across the Tennessee River at that 
point, a vitally important service necessary to the opening of com- 
munication between Bridgeport and Chattanooga.' Later, in 
his official report, he said: 'To Brigadier-General William F. 
Smith, Chief Engineer, should be accorded great praise for the 
ingenuity which conceived, and the ability which executed the 
movements at Brown's Ferry.' 

"General Sherman bears 'willing testimony to the complete- 
ness of this whole business. All the officers charged with the 
work were present and manifested a skill which I cannot praise 
too highly. I have never beheld any work done so quietly, so 
well, and I doubt if the history of war can show a bridge of 
1350 feet laid down so noiselessly and well in so short a time. I 
attribute it to the genius and intelligence of General William F. 
Smith.' 

"Shortly afterwards. Grant asked for Smith's assignment to 
the command of East Tennessee, to succeed the luckless Burn- 
side, with whom he was dissatisfied, but in so doing he intimated 
that it would be agreeable to him if the government should, in 
pursuance of a personal suggestion sent to the War Department 
about the same time by Mr. Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secre- 
tary of War, give General Smith even a higher command. It is 
now well known that Grant had in mind the command of the 
Army of the Potomac, and not only then, but frequently after- 



296 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

wards, assured General Smith of his support for that great and 
responsible position . ' ' 

Following General William F. Smith in command of 
the Sixth Corps, came General John Sedgwick, who declined 
the offer to be placed at the head of the x\rmy of the Potomac, 
and remained with the corps until killed in action at Spotsyl- 
vania, on May 9, 1864, on the firing line, having won the 
respect and affection of his associates and subordinates as 
few men were able to do. He was succeeded by General 
Horatio G. Wright, who commanded the corps until it was 
disbanded in June, 1865. During General Wright's com- 
mand of the Sixth Corps he saved the capital from capture 
by General Early, and fought within the city limits under 
the eye of the President. Later, when the Army of the 
Shenandoah was surprised in its camp at Cedar Creek, 
October 19, 1864, General Wright with the Sixth Corps 
checked the retreat, and his successful efforts to restore order 
brought the army into condition for the advance which 
was pressed on the return of General Sheridan. 

The Sixth Corps' four commanders ranked with the ablest 
soldiers produced by the war. Of the brigade commanders, 
who started out with the corps, four rose to the command 
of corps, one to that of an army and others to the com- 
mand of divisions. Lieutenant Emory Upton, Fifth Ar- 
tillery, won great credit in commanding a brigade in the 
Sixth Corps in the "Wilderness Campaign," and, later, 
when in command of a division of General James H. Wil- 
son's Cavalry Corps, operating in the Gulf States; and, as 
a writer on the science and art of war, attained an eminence 
second to no soldier of his age. 

Of the three brigade commanders so highly commended 
by General Brooks, quoted in the early part of this chapter, 
Alfred T. A. Torbert rose to the command of a division of 



The Sixth Corps 297 

cavalry; Joseph J. Bartlett rose to the command of a divi- 
sion in the Fifth Corps; and David A. Russell rose to the com- 
mand of the First Division of the Sixth Corps. 

The history of ancient knighthood contains no more 
interesting incident than that of the knight who asked that 
his armor be brought, that he might wear it sitting upright 
while he awaited death, the one enemy whom he had never 
vanquished. That incident showed less of heroic valor 
than the closing scene in the life of General David A. Russell. 
Riding with his staff to the firing-line in the battle of Win- 
chester, Virginia, September 19, 1864, where his advanced 
brigade was sharply engaged with the enemy, his chief 
medical officer, seeing him struck with a rifle ball, asked him 
to dismount that he might ascertain the character of his 
wound and give it proper attention. The General replied, 
"That is not necessary, Doctor, the wound is a settler, but 
I will not dismount so long as I can sit on my horse and 
direct the operations." Soon after, a cannon shot struck 
his breast and hurled his lifeless and broken body from 
his horse. No more striking or heroic conduct in fierce 
contests for the public weal is recorded in the annals of war. 

Colonel Daniel D. Bidwell, Colonel Forty-ninth New 
York, promoted to be brigadier-general and to the com- 
mand of a brigade, was killed in the battle of Cedar Creek, 
Virginia, October 19, 1864, while commanding with con- 
spicuous gallantry. Colonel Hiram Burnham, Sixth Maine, 
commanded the Light Division at Salem Heights, Virginia, 
was promoted brigadier-general and to the command of a 
brigade in the Eighteenth Corps, and was killed in action, 
September 30, 1864, vigorously pressing the enemy. Col- 
onel Alexander Shaler, Sixty-fifth New York, was promoted 
brigadier-general and to the command of a brigade, breveted 
major-general for gallant and meritorious conduct at 
Marye's Heights, Virginia, and was awarded a Congressional 



298 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Medal of Honor for advancing at a critical moment and turn- 
ing the enemy's flanks. Colonel N. J. Jackson, Fifth Maine, 
was promoted a brigadier-general, placed in command of 
a brigade and breveted major-general for gallant and meri- 
torious services. Colonel Amasa Cobb, Fifth Wisconsin, 
commanded his regiment with marked ability at Wil- 
Hamsburg, and Golden's Farm, Virginia, and at Antietam, 
Maryland, for which he was breveted a brigadier-general. 
Resigning in December, 1862, he again entered the service as 
colonel of the Forty- third Wisconsin and remained to the close 
of the war. Subsequently, he attained great distinction as 
a jurist, and was for many years Chief Justice of Nebraska. 

No member of the Sixth Corps has attained higher posi- 
tion in civil life than Redfield Proctor, who entered the ser- 
vice as quartermaster of the Third Vermont, rose to be major 
of the Fifth Vermont, colonel of the Fifteenth Vermont, 
one of the regiments of the famous Vermont brigade which, 
under General Stannard, did such effective work in checking 
the memorable charge of Pickett at Gettysburg; Governor of 
Vermont; Secretary of War; United States Senator; and 
was the first American statesman to raise his voice against 
the horrors of Spanish rule in Cuba, and to urge a declara- 
tion of war with Spain, which resulted in expelling her 
from the Western Continent and the Islands of the far 
Eastern Seas. 

Colonel Calvin E. Pratt,^ Thirty-first New York, was pro- 



' In the Presidential campaign of 1880, a large number of influential mem- 
bers of the Democratic Party, united in bringing the name of General Calvin 
E. Pratt before the convention called to select a candidate to head the ticket, 
and great progress was being made in winning the support of delegates for 
his nomination, when it was quietly stated that General Pratt was a member 
of the Roman Catholic church. A self-appointed committee waited on him 
to request him to deny the charge and to stand forth as a Protestant. The 
committee said to him, "It is recognized that you are an attendant of a 
Protestant church, but is stated that you have been baptised by a priest of 



The Sixth Corps 299 

moted Brigadier-General, commanded the Light Division, 
and resigned on account of wounds received in the battle of 
Gaines's Mill, Virginia. He carried an ounce ball, received 
in that battle, under his left cheek near the base of his skull 
for thirty years, discharging the duties of a Justice of the 
Supreme Court, in the meantime, in a manner to win the 
distinction of a learned and upright judge. Many other 
field and line officers were promoted to be general officers, 
and commanded acceptably brigades and divisions in dif- 
ferent corps of the army. 

The staff departments of the Sixth Corps were filled by 
men of ability. Brevet Major-General Martin T. Mc- 
Mahon, Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff, a volunteer 
who served from the organization of the corps to its muster 
out, except for the time he was Adjutant- General of the 



the Roman Catholic church, and unless you deny the charge, and confess 
your adhesion to the Protestant faith, your nomination is impossible. With 
such confession the way is clear for your nomination as the candidate of the 
party for the Presidency." 

His answer was no surprise to those who knew him as a brave soldier, 
an upright judge, a broad minded and irreproachable man. He turned to 
the spokesman and said, "I will neither affirm nor deny the charge that I 
am a Roman CathoUc. 1 will say that I have been informed, by reputable 
persons who were present, that, when, under the impression conveyed to 
Chaplain Francis McAtee, by the medical officers in attendance that I was 
about to die from wounds received in action, he administered to me the sacred 
rites of baptism and absolution which priests of his church administered 
to those regarded worthy, when approaching death. That I should repu- 
diate or cast a reproach on the action of that pious priest is an impossibil- 
ity. I have carried in my head for eighteen years the ball which produced 
the prostration which was thought, by all then present, a premonition of 
death, and may carry it to my grave, but I assure you I would not by word or 
action discountenance the act of my faithful chaplain, if in so doing it would 
dislodge this tormenting ball or place me in the highest office in the gift 
of the people for whose national existence I stood when disabled. No sir, 
I cannot be made an instrument for bigotry." Soon after, the tide was 
turned toward General Hancock, and his nomination was secured without 
profession of adhesion to any particular religious sect. 



300 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

Left Grand Division under Franklin, is the one man best 
able to write the history of the corps. Since the war, he has 
filled important posts in the diplomatic service, in legisla- 
tive bodies and the courts of justice, and for years has been 
President of the Board of Managers of the National Home 
for Disabled Volunteers. The chiefs of artillery attained 
marked distinction in the corps, and higher rank in other 
corps; Captain Richard Arnold, Fifth Artillery, as a gen- 
eral officer in command of a division in the southeast, 
Captain R. B. Ayres, Fifth Artillery, as a general ofiicer in 
command of a division in the Fifth Corps, Captain E. R. 
Piatt, Second Artillery, and Colonel Charles H. Tompkins, 
Rhode Island Artillery, as Chiefs of Artillery of the corps in 
many important engagements. Of the Medical Depart- 
ment, Surgeon Charles O'Leary, Medical Director, Surgeons 
Frank Hamilton, George T. Stevens, and Julius Hansen 
attained international reputation as men of high rank in 
their profession. In the Commissary Department, Colonels 
S. H.Sturdevant and J.K.Scofield were most efficient officers. 
In the Quartermaster's Department, Colonel W. R. Hop- 
kins, Colonel C. W. Tolles, and Major W. H. Daniels who 
entered the service as corporal in the Sixteenth, were among 
the most capable in the service. It is impossible to name 
all the meritorious members of that deserving corps, and 
the writer has confined his comments to those he knew 
personally. 

The Vermont Brigade of the Second Division lost more 
in killed and mortally wounded than any other brigade in 
the war. Of the divisions whose valor was shown at the 
greatest cost in a single battle, Getty's, the Second of the Sixth 
Corps, comes first, a close second to the division which lost 
the greatest number throughout the war, Hancock's, the 
First Division of the Second Corps. 

The "Three hundred fighting regiments," reported by 



The Sixth Corps 301 

Colonel Fox as sustaining the heaviest losses of killed and 
mortally wounded during the war, were distributed through 
twenty-one corps, of which number the Second Corps had 
forty-three, and the Sixth Corps thirty-four regiments. In 
this list of three hundred, one two-years' regiment appears, 
the Fifth New York; yet the losses in killed and mortally 
wounded sustained by the Sixteenth New York, during sub- 
stantially one year's fighting, equalled the losses sustained 
in four of the three hundred regiments, and exceeded the 
losses in fifty-nine of the regiments classed with the "Fight- 
ing Three Hundred." These facts were disclosed by the 
Confederate and the General Hospital records, only accessible 
after the publication of Colonel Fox's valuable book. The 
Sixth Corps lost in killed and wounded, in its term of service, 
nearly fifty per cent, more ofiicers and men than it ever took 
into a single action. This is stated with no invidious spirit, 
but to bring out the fact that the corps was often put into 
positions of great peril, and that it bore itself throughout with 
fortitude and valor, such as to exemplify the qualities of 
the men who marched and fought in the Army of the Poto- 
mac. Colonel Fox says: 

" The history of the Sixth Corps, more than any other, is replete 
with fascinating interest. Its record is invested with more of 
the romance and brilliancy of war. There was the successful 
assaults of Marye's Heights; the brilliant dash into the rifle pits 
at Rappahannock Station; the deadly hand-to-hand fighting in 
the gloomy thickets at Spotsylvania; the breathless interest which 
attaches to their lone fight at Fort Stevens, where, under the eye 
of the President, they saved the National Capital from the hand 
of the invader; the victories in the valley, with the dramatic in- 
cident at Cedar Creek; and the crowning success at the storming 
of Petersburg. Over all these scenes the Greek Cross waved 
proudly on the banners of the corps, while its veteran legions 
wrought deeds which linked that badge with an unfading glory 
and renown." 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE MUSTER OUT OF THE SIXTEENTH 

ON the 8th of May, 1863, the Sixth Corps left the posi- 
tion north of Banks's Ford, to which it had with- 
drawn after the battle of Salem Heights, and returned to 
its old camp at White Oak Church. The Sixteenth was 
directed to prepare for muster out of service, and the officers 
began to make out the descriptive lists of those who were 
not entitled to be mustered out with the two years' men. 
All the men who had enhsted between the muster in of the 
regiment and the close of 1861, except the recruits in Com- 
pany I, were mustered for the unexpired term of the regi- 
ment; those of Company I were mustered for two years; 
the recruits of 1862 were all mustered for a term of three 
years. The number of those not entitled to be mustered 
out was one hundred and twenty-six, and they were notified 
that they could select the organizations in which they pre- 
ferred to complete their term of service. These men se- 
lected the First Massachusetts Battery, Battery D, Second 
United States Artillery, and the One Hundred and Twenty- 
first New York regiment. Unfortunately, the promise 
made to the men was not kept, for, a few days after the Six- 
teenth left for home, the whole number was ordered to report 
to the One Hundred and Twenty-first New York, and was 
distributed among the companies of that regiment. While 
a majority had selected the One Hundred and Twenty- 
first, all were indignant at this treatment, but, with the ex- 



Muster out of the Sixteenth 303 

ception of four, all forgave the deception and entered upon 
duty with earnest zeal. The four, whose dissatisfaction was 
not to be overcome, either enlisted in other organizations or 
deserted from the service. 

On Sunday, the loth of May, the members received their 
friends and made farewell calls upon those with whom they 
had marched and fought since September, 1861, and, at 
their last evening parade in Virginia, received the congratu- 
latory orders of their commanders, extracts from which are 
reproduced : 

From Major-General John Sedgwick's order: 

"The general commanding the corps congratulates the ofl&cers 
and men of the Regiment upon the honorable termination of 
their period of duty. They have deserved well of the Republic 
upon many battle-fields and in many tiresome marches. Through 
all the vicissitudes of their two years' service they have preserved 
for their regiment an unblemished record." 



From Brigadier- General W. T. H. Brooks's order: 

"The Division Commander is happy to add his testimony 
to the good character of the ofl&cers and men of the Sixteenth 
New York Volunteers, whose term of service is about to expire. 
Their gallant conduct throughout the late campaign, and espe- 
cially in the battle near Salem Church, excited his unbounded 
admiration." 



From Brigadier- General J. J. Bartlett's order: 

"During the past year the Sixteenth New York Volunteers 
has been under the Brigade Commander's immediate notice. 
They have nobly borne their part of every hardship and privation 
which the command has endured. On the battle-fields of West 
Point, Gaines's Mill, Charles City Cross Roads, Crampton's 
Pass, and Antietam, they showed themselves brave and gallant 



304 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

soldiers, ever ready to do battle for their country, and resisting 
to the last the onset of their country 's foes. In this last terrible 
campaign they have shown their gallantry and devotion anew, 
and won the commendation and thanks of all their command- 
ing oflScers." 



The comradeship of Bartlett's brigade is well indicated by 
an extract from Lieutenant George W. Bicknell's History 
of the Fifth Maine: 

" On the eleventh of May, the noble and gallant Sixteenth New 
York Regiment, whose term of service had expired, bade fare- 
well to the brigade, and turned their footsteps homeward. Side 
by side, the Fifth Maine and Sixteenth New York had fought 
in many hard contests, until they seemed bound together by the 
strongest ties. It seemed hard to give them up, yet who could 
ask men who had rendered such noble service to remain longer ? 
Who of the Fifth does not remember the Sixteenth at Gaines's 
Mill, when their line moved so gallantly over the crest of the 
hill and charged down upon the enemy — their straw-hats, 
the gift of their intrepid colonel, making their line particularly 
conspicuous ? 

"Scarcely had the Sixteenth gone, when the Twenty-seventh 
New York, another regiment which had been banded with us 
from the early days of our brigade existence, was discharged by 
reason of the expiration of their term of service, and the old Fifth 
seemed almost alone. 

" Like the Sixteenth, the Twenty-seventh had long been by our 
side; and strong friendships had sprung up between the two 
commands. Ever will the Fifth Maine boy remember the Six- 
teenth and the Twenty-seventh New York with feelings of affec- 
tion, and also can he point with pride to them as part of the 
noble Bartlett's brigade in the first two years of military service." 

As the time drew near for the discharge of the Sixteenth, 
there wsls a strong and universal feeling that some action 



Muster out of the Sixteenth 305 

should be taken to express to Colonel and Mrs, Rowland 
the admiration, respect, and affectionate regard in which 
each was held by the individual members of the regiment. 
The oflBicers and men were proud of their record, and felt 
that Colonel Rowland's gallant and skilful leadership in 
their first important battle had gained for them the respect 
of their associates, and the high consideration of their super- 
iors; they were grateful to him for his large expenditures 
in procuring for them articles of prime importance not pro- 
vided by the Government, and to Mrs. Howland, for her 
constant watchfulness of, and careful attention to, the sick 
and wounded. This sentiment took form in mementoes 
which illustrated the valor of one and the devotion of the 
other; the warrior's weapon, and the Book, in which are 
found the lessons taught by Him whose coming blessed the 
suffering and healed the sick. 

The correspondence detailing this interesting incident in 
the regiment 's history is reproduced : 

"Headquarters Sixteenth New York Volunteers, 
" Camp near White Oak Church, Virginia. 

"April 25, 1863. 

"Colonel Joseph Rowland, 

"Dear Sir: — ^The officers of the Sixteenth Regiment, New 
York Volunteers, desire to present you with the accompanying 
sword, as a testimonial of their appreciation of the gallantry 
and ability displayed by you while in command of the Regi- 
ment, in the Peninsular campaign. 

"The enlisted men of the Regiment, feeling that Mrs. How- 
land has laid them under a deep debt of gratitude by her many 
contributions to their comfort, and her philanthropic labors in 
the hospitals, send the Bible for her acceptance. 
" Very respectfully, 

"W. B. Grand ALL, 

"Pliny Moore, 

"R. P. WiLSOi^,— Committee." 



3o6 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

" FiSHKHL-ON-HuDSON, New York, 8 May, 1863. 

"Surgeon W. B. Grand all, 

"Captain Pliny Moore, 

"Captain R. P. Wilson, Assistant Adjutant General, 

"Committee Sixteenth Regiment, New York Volunteers. 

"Gentlemen: — Mrs. Howland and myself have had the great 
pleasure of receiving the Bible presented by the enlisted men, 
and the sword by the officers of the Sixteenth Regiment, New 
York Volunteers, and your valued letter of the 25 th ultimo, 
which accompanied them. 

"It is impossible for either my wife or myself to express the 
feelings which these testimonials of the esteem and affection of the 
dear old Regiment have called forth. Beautiful and valuable in 
themselves as works of art of rare merit, they have priceless 
worth to us as evidence of the continued respect and kind feelings 
of men with whom it was an honor to serve, and whose apprecia- 
tion and love always have been and will be treasured by us as of 
priceless value. We can simply say that we thank you from our 
hearts for your undeserved kindness. 

"The glorious story of your gallantry during the late battles 
has reached us at the same time as the sad report of your heavy 
losses. We ask you to accept our congratulations upon the un- 
dying glory with which your noble career has crowned your name, 
and also our affectionate sympathy in your sufferings. 

"Hoping soon to have an opportunity of meeting you, and my 
other comrades of the Sixteenth, on your return home, 

"I am, Gentlemen, 

" Very respectfully and truly yours, 

"Joseph Howland." 



" FiSHKn,L-ON-HuDSON, New York, May 8, 1863. 

"To the Enlisted Men of the 

" Sixteenth Regiment, New York State Volunteers, 

" My Dear Friends: — I find it an exceedingly difl5cult task to 
express to you the great pleasure and gratification with which I 



Muster out of the Sixteenth 307 

have just received your exquisite gift. As a work of art it is 
unequalled in beauty and interest, and as a testimonial of your 
regard and affection it will always be of inestimable value to me ; 
for, humbled as I feel by this generous retvirn for the very little 
I was privileged to do for you from time to time, it is a source 
of great pleasure to me that the Regiment which I have so long 
looked upon with peculiar admiration and respect should in 
turn honor me with their affectionate regard. 

"The record on the blank leaves of the Bible is for me as well 
a list of my friends as a roll of honor, and I need not tell you what 
a pleasant and sacred thing it is to me to have the names of so 
many of my brave countrymen associated with this Holy Book. 

"You must let me congratulate you upon the new laurels you 
have just gained upon the Rappahannock, and also to express 
to you my sincere sympathy for those of you who are wounded, 
and for the friends of the noble dead. 

"With renewed gratitude and regard, 
"I remain, 

" Your sincere friend, 

"Eliza Woolsey Howland." 



Early on the morning of May nth, the Sixteenth marched 
from its winter camp at White Oak Church to Aquia Creek, 
and took the steamer for Washington; thence it proceeded 
north by cars, taking on the train detached men and con- 
valescents at Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City, 
and arrived at Albany at 6 a.m. on Thursday, the 14th day 
of May. The regiment was met at the railroad station by 
a committee of the Albany Fire Department and escorted to 
the Delavan House, where all did ample justice to the sump- 
tuous breakfast, for it was two years since many of them had 
sat down to a well ordered table. The regiment was for- 
mally received at the arsenal at 1 1 o'clock, and then marched, 
under the escort of the fire department, through the prin- 



3o8 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

cipal streets to the capitol, where Governor Seymour ad- 
dressed them, as follows: 

"Soldiers of the Sixteenth: With the close of this day will 
expire the two years for which your regiment was mustered into 
the United States service. Your thinned ranks are most elo- 
quent witnesses that your duty, as soldiers of the Union, has been 
religiously discharged. When, on the 15th May, 1861, you were 
mustered into service, your regiment numbered eight hundred 
stalwart men. You went forth with your banners fresh and beau- 
tiful; you return with them worn and tattered, but more beauti- 
ful and sacred to us, from the perils and hardships through which 
they have been borne. 

"I congratulate you upon your return to our State, and upon 
the prospect of your speedy reunion with friends at home. Many, 
who went out with you in vigor of manhood and health, have 
been denied this privilege. The records of the battles of West 
Point, Gaines's Mill, Crampton's Pass, Antietam, Fredericksburg, 
and Salem Heights wiU account for the five himdred missing 
soldiers. Their bones are crumbling upon the Peninsula and 
whitening the hiUs of the Blue Ridge. We welcome you, their 
comrades in arms, and in behalf of the people of the State, whom 
you have so honorably served, invoke the richest blessings of 
Providence upon you. We will place your torn banners amid 
others which have come to us from the battle-field, in the archives 
of the State, and cherish them as precious memorials. 

"Soldiers: You are now about to return to your homes, in the 
northern part of the State. You will soon look forth upon the 
beautiful waters of Lake Champlain, and the rolling St. Lawrence, 
along whose different shores most of you reside. 

" You will return to the duties of civil life, prepared, we trust, 
to discharge them with the same fidelity and honor you have mani- 
fested in the field. 

" And now let me give you a kindly word of caution before bid- 
ding you farewell. You are about to enjoy that repose to which 
you are so justly entitled, and to receive a portion of that pay 
you have so hardly and honorably earned. Be prudent, be care- 



Muster out of the Sixteenth 309 

ful, and do not let the designing or the unprincipled rob you of 
your money; keep it for the hour of sickness and for the aid of 
those near and dear to you. 

"Again, as Governor of the State of New York, and Com- 
mander-in-Chief of its military forces, I thank you for your 
patriotic services." 

To which Colonel Seaver replied, as follows: 

" To your Excellency, and to the Mayor and Common Council 
of the City of Albany: I desire to express to you the thanks of 
this Regiment, for this cordial and enthusiastic welcome so 
unexpectedly extended to us. It is the more gratifying inasmuch 
as it was unexpected. 

" I need not speak of the thinned ranks, of the trials and sufifer- 
ings patiently borne, of the sickness, disease, and battles which 
have so reduced our numbers. These have all become familiar 
topics in the history of all armies. You have been pleased to 
allude to the services of this Regiment in flattering terms. I 
trust that those services have not been rendered in vain — that all 
these sufferings will not, under Providence, be allowed to pass for 
naught. The reception extended to us this day is a cheering indi- 
cation that they will not. The enthusiasm of your citizens — old 
and young — shows clearly enough that the heart of the people is 
still beating to the true measure; that their devotion to the old 
flag is as deep and undying as it was when the storm of battle first 
broke upon Fort Sumter. 

"I would to God that every soldier in oiu* armies were here 
to-day to witness this enthusiasm. It would warm their hearts 
and nerve their arms to more powerful blows and to more glori- 
ous deeds. But, while this may not be, the spirit of the people 
can be imparted to them. 

"Let it go forth from the Press, from the Executive Halls, till 
the armies of the Nation shall feel that there is but one people 
and one sentiment in all the loyal States, and that that people and 
that sentiment are with the Army, in favor of a speedy and hon- 
orable termination of this war, and the restoration of the power 



3IO Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

of the Government of the United States over all that are now in 
Rebellion. This will be worth more than thousands of armed 
men, and will be most potent in influence. 

"To your hands, Sir, I am pleased to deliver the colors of 
this Regiment, that they may be preserved in the archives of the 
State. They are beaten by storm, torn by many a hostile bullet, 
but, I believe, they have never been dishonored. 

"Let them remain as a testimony to the brave men who have 
fallen in their defence, and to those who are so soon to return 
to their homes, sobered by discipline and chastened by much 
sufifering." 



FoUoviring these exercises, the regiment was marched to 
the barracks, where they were quartered until the officers 
turned in the arms, equipments and public property, and 
made out the rolls for their final muster and pay. During 
the time the regiment was preparing to be mustered out, 
Colonel and Mrs. Howland came to Albany and greeted the 
members with hearty congratulations for the honorable 
record they had made, encouraging them to return again 
to the service. Four days before the muster out of the regi- 
ment, Colonel Seaver delivered to each a copy of his fare- 
well address: 

'Headquarters Sixteenth New York Volunteers, 

Albany, May i8, 1863. 

To THE Officers and Men or the Sixteenth New York 
Volunteers : 
"As we are about to separate for oiu- several homes, on the 
expiration of our term of service, I should do less than my duty 
if I failed to express to you my sincere gratitude for the prompt- 
ness and alacrity with which you have obeyed all orders since I 
have had the honor to command the Regiment, my admiration of 
the patience with which you have endured every trial and fatigue, 
and the noble, self-sacrificing manner in which you have dis- 
charged every duty to your country. 



Muster out of the Sixteenth 311 

" Among the first to enter the field at your country's call, yours 
has been no holiday work. Your thinned ranks and tattered ban- 
ners speak, more eloquently than words, of long and honorable 
service. For this your country will honor you with her highest 
praise, and reward you with her profoundest gratitude — the rich- 
est legacies bequeathed by any nation to a soldier and a patriot. 

" I need not speak of your noble deeds at Gaines's Mill, at Cramp- 
ton's Pass, and at Salem Heights, in each of which engagements 
more than a quarter of your members fell. I need not allude to 
other fields where your presence was felt in the services you ren- 
dered. You have written your own record in noble patriotic 
blood, and no words of mine can add to the lustre of its pages. In 
all these services, in all these privations, in all these achievements, 
we have shared in common, and it is my highest pride that you 
have borne so patiently and achieved so well. 

"When the relations that have so long and so pleasantly ex- 
isted shall cease, and we lay aside the character of the soldier 
to assume that of the citizen, let us not forget any of the obliga- 
tions we owe to our common Country; let us not, in the quiet of 
our homes, forget her danger and her need. The Government 
must be sustained; its old flag must be upheld until it shall again 
wave over every State represented on its azure field. Not a star 
shall fall, not a stripe shall fade. To this we should all be ready 
to ' pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.' 

" I cannot part with you without expressing a desire to see many 
of you again enrolled in the reorganized ranks of the old Sixteenth. 
I wish to see its name and its number perpetuated by reorganiza- 
tion. Let it return to the field to deal more vigorous blows and 
to achieve fresh laurels and higher renown. The Government, 
in its need, demands your services; the blood of your slain com- 
rades cries aloud for you to return; every memory of the past, 
every hope of the future should incite you to return. A few weeks 
of rest, the society of friends, and the pleasures of home will 
restore health, reinvigorate your worn systems, and, I trust, pre- 
pare your minds to engage again in a holy cause. Whether or 
not the old Sixteenth shall cease to have an existence depends 
upon you. But whatever you may determine to do in the future. 



312 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

my best wishes will go with you all, and my fervent prayer shall 
ever be for your welfare. 

"May God, in his healing mercy, soon restore to us all those 
who bear honorable wounds received in ovir late engagement, 
and give to the friends of those who have fallen in battle or per- 
ished by disease, strength to bear their bereavement. 

"J. J. Seaver, 

''Colonel Com'dg RegH:' 



On Friday, the 22nd day of May, 1863, the members of 
the Sixteenth received their discharges and final pay, and 
proceeded, not in the well ordered ranks of their late march- 
ing, but singly and in small parties to their northern homes. 
A goodly number had fallen on the battle-fields, a lesser 
number had died of disease in camps and hospitals, and 
others, a greater number than those left dead, had been in- 
valided by wounds and disease and sent to recuperate or die 
among their kindred. How many of each class, the roster 
will tell. The roster itself will perhaps interest none except 
those connected with the regiment, their relatives and friends, 
but the recapitulatory tables contain information of value 
to students of vital statistics, to legislators, and to others 
interested in recruiting military organizations. The age of 
the greatest military efficiency in actual warfare is the most 
important deduction from these tables. 

The Sixteenth during its term of service had fought against 
great odds, and never but once did it sleep on the ground 
it had fought over. The regiment had never hesitated to 
advance against the enemy; had never retired from the firing 
line until ordered ; and had never lost a flag, or a single gun 
of any battery it had been directed to support. It has some- 
times been said that the men who volunteered on the first 
call of President Lincoln were almost wholly influenced by 



Muster out of the Sixteenth 313 

a spirit of adventure, and had little of the spirit of patriotism. 
An answer to this thoughtless assertion is found in the fact 
that, within sixty days after the muster-out of the Sixteenth, 
six hundred and forty of its officers and men were en- 
rolled in eighty-three organizations, and each one was 
mustered "to serve three years, or during the war." 



CHAPTER XXX 

MILITARY EFFICIENCY AND HOW TO PROMOTE IT 

MEMBERS of the Sixteenth accounted for throughout 
the war, and for forty-four years and ten months 
from muster into the United States service, with comparisons, 
comments and 'suggestions, will make up this concluding 
chapter. 

Mustered in May 15, 1861, 781 officers and enlisted men; 
joined by appointees and recruits 466; to be accounted for 
1247. Average age at enlistment 25 years. Average height 
5 feet 7I inches. 

Efficients Inefficients 

Killed in action 92 Died, disease 74 

Mortally wounded 38 Discharged, disease .... 260 

Discharged, wounds .... 76 Discharged 8 

Promoted 9 Deserted 50 

Transferred 126 Dropped 6 

Mustered out 504 Resigned 4 



845 402 

Total 1247 

Men who were killed, disabled by wounds, promoted to 
other organizations, transferred, or mustered out are classed 
as efficient. All who died or were discharged on account of 
disease were honorable men, but incapable of performing 
mihtary duty; all others were unwilling to do the duty and 
asked for discharge, deserted, or were dropped. No desert- 
ers joined the enemy; of the deserters who enlisted in other 
regiments one-third were killed in action. 



Military Efficiency 315 

Of the whole number whose names were carried on the 
rolls of the regiment from one day to two years, 10.4 per cent, 
were killed or mortally wounded, and 29 per cent, of the re- 
mainder were wounded. The killed and mortally wounded 
in the New York Volunteers in the Civil War were 5.4 per 
cent.;^ in the Union armies 4.7 per cent.f in the Confederate 
armies over 9 per cent.* This difference was partly due to the 
fact that the Confederate armies were not required to pro- 
tect their lines of communication and bases of supplies. 
At least one-third of the Union forces were employed in pro- 
tecting communications and suppUes. The number of killed 
and wounded in the New York Volunteers was 18.4 per cent, 
of enlistments; in the Sixteenth, the number was 36.96 per 
cent, of enlistments. The number captured in New York 
organizations was 6.8 per cent.; in the Sixteenth it was 4.8 
per cent.; of the 60 men reported captured, 21 were not 
wounded; the other 39 were killed or wounded, and taken 
from the battle-fields or hospitals which fell into the hands 
of the enemy. 

Of the thirty-eight two years regiments, the Fifth, Duryee's 
Zouaves, sustained the greatest loss in killed and mortally 
wounded, 10.9 per cent, of enlistments, and 15.7 per cent, 
were wounded and recovered. The Sixteenth came next 
with 10.4 per cent, killed and mortally wounded, but its 
wounded and recovered equalled 24.1 per cent. The Six- 
teenth sustained 99 per cent, of its total casualties in four 
battles. Four hundred and sixty-one men were killed or 
received wounds requiring surgical treatment, over fifty per 
cent, more than the average number of men taken to the 
firing Une in its battles. Several received more than one 



' Colonel William F. Fox's Regimental Losses in the Civil War. 

'Ibid. 

Ubid. 



3i6 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

wound in the same battle, but only one wound has been 
counted for each battle, while others have been credited 
with a wound received in every battle in which they fought. 

In the European wars of the last sixty years, the losses 
in battle were less than half of the losses in our Civil War. 
Colonel Fox reports in his Regimental Losses, that, "The 
aUied armies in the Crimean War lost in killed and mortally 
wounded 3.2 per cent.; the Austrians in the war of 1866 lost 
2.6 per cent.; and the Germans in the Franco-Prussian war 
lost 3.2 per cent." 

Of the six hundred and forty officers and men of 
the Sixteenth who continued in the army by promotion or 
transfer to other organizations, or re-enHsted after discharge 
from the regiment, 39 were killed in action, and 26 died of 
disease. From muster into the United States service to 
March 15, 1906, a period of forty-four years and ten months, 
169 had been killed in battle, 100 had died of disease in the 
service 560 had died since discharge from the army, 3 were 
unaccounted for, and 415 were hving; total 1247. 

The common belief of those unacquainted with the real 
operations of our armies in the Civil War, that the number 
on the muster rolls and those reported "present for duty" 
on the morning returns approximated the number taken into 
action, is a mistaken one. Less than half of the number 
reported on the rolls, and not to exceed sixty per cent, of 
those reported for duty, were ever taken on to the firing fine 
in any one battle. The men not taken into the battle proper 
might be on special detail, others overcome on the rapid 
march to position, and others guarding flanks or in reserve. 
All but the inefficient were useful, but not in a position to 
contribute to the main contests. 

The quahties of an efficient soldier are physical and men- 
tal; of the former the essentials are perfect form, sound 
health, medium height, and youth; of the latter, the soldier 



Military Efficiency 317 

should have fair intelligence (the more the better) and the 
buoyant spirit of a well disposed and energetic youth. Fat 
is a burden and great height is disappointing. Of the mem- 
bers of the regiment who were six feet or more, ninety-nine 
per cent, taken into battle were killed or wounded; and of 
those of five feet and eleven inches ninety per cent, suffered 
in like manner. Of the members of the regiment, five or 
six were older than the age given on the descriptive list, and 
one-fifth of those stated to be eighteen were really one, two, 
or three years younger. Both classes were guilty of patriotic 
perjury, a crime which was readily excused by all lovers of 
their country. 

I have examined the rolls of many regiments beside that of 
the Sixteenth, and am fully confirmed in the opinion that 
the age of greatest military efficiency is nineteen years; 
nevertheless it is fairly well maintained to twenty-five, and 
without serious loss to thirty, beyond which age no recruit 
should be enrolled in an organization intended for active 
campaigning. Men discipHned and trained in the mihtary 
habit may render good service after thirty, but not those 
taken from civil life. 

Entering the army on the first call of President Lincoln, 
and continuing until 1866, I had, in passing through the 
grades from captain to the rank of a major-general, excep- 
tional opportunities to study the rank and file of many 
different mihtary organizations. On entering the 52nd 
Congress, I renewed my acquaintance with many officers of 
the army with whom I had served in the Civil War, and in 
visiting their commands I discovered many things which I 
thought might well be changed. The old law, enacted hi 
Washington's administration, making the minimum age of 
recruits eighteen and the maximum forty-five years, was still 
in force; there was no legislative bar to men of bad character, 
or to ahenSjand no education was required. In former days. 



3i8 Bull Run to Chancellorsville 

it was not an infrequent practice for judges to sentence 
vagabonds and thieves to enlist in the Regular Army, or go 
to the penitentiary, as the accused might choose. I drew a 
bill which, after two years of earnest effort, became a law, 
Hmiting the term of enhstments, to three years, requiring 
recruits to be natives or naturalized citizens of the United 
States, of good character, under thirty years of age, and able 
to speak, read and write the Enghsh language. There were, 
at the time I introduced my bill, a dozen officers and a very 
large number of enlisted men in the army, who owed alle- 
giance to foreign rulers. It was of importance to protect 
the army from vicious men, and to require all who served 
under the flag to acknowledge this country as their own. 

I felt it was of great importance to reduce the maximum 
age of recruits. The principal reasons why a young man 
under twenty-two years makes a more efficient soldier in 
active campaign than one twenty-five or older are, first, the 
youth's greater recuperative powers; a well developed boy 
can march all day in a sleet storm, lie down at night on the 
wet ground, which perchance may freeze under him, and get 
up in the morning rested, and march on or go into battle, 
while a man of mature years may find it difficult to get up 
in the morning, and if he does rise he is not so well rested as 
the boy; second, the boy is more ready to accept sugges- 
tions as to the possibility of overcoming obstacles, and the 
enthusiasm and audacity of youth will cause him to enter 
on a difficult and hazardous undertaking with a confidence 
which a man of mature years cannot feel; third, the boy has 
seldom contracted marriage, and has none of the feehngs of 
a man with a dependant family, and if the boy has in his 
mind one nearer than his mother, he will be more intent on 
performing an act that will tend to inspire her respect, than 
on saving himself at the expense of his reputation. Courage, 
vigor, audacity and self-confidence are the important quah- 



Military Efficiency 319 

fications of a soldier, and they are possessed to a greater 
degree by boys near the age of twenty than by men of middle 
life. At least one-quarter of the men enrolled in our army 
in the Civil War should never have been accepted, because 
of advanced years or physical disabilities, and quite that 
number never performed a day's active duty. Not only 
was the service injured by their presence in camp, but the 
industries and professions were depleted, while the hospital 
expenses and the pension rolls were increased to the same 
extent. 

The enrolling of old and feeble men in our war was not the 
greatest error; but the formation of new regiments, before 
those in the field had been recruited to their maximum, was 
doubtless the greatest evil of our system for increasing the 
active forces. Recruits sent into old regiments were soon 
made efficient soldiers, were intelhgently cared for, and con- 
sequently they suffered less from disease and exposure. 
Had one-half the number of men sent out in new regiments 
during the second, the third and the fourth years of the war 
been sent to old organizations in the field, the fighting force 
would have been greater and much more effective than it was. 

The claim that it was necessary to organize new regiments 
to fill the calls for troops, because it increased the activity 
of men by holding out the prospect of appointments, calls up 
another subject which deserves consideration. Shall an army 
be raised by calling for volunteers or by ordering a draft? 
This country will never declare war without receiving the 
tender of more men fit to be made soldiers than can be 
equipped, but when men are required to fill the depleted ranks 
they must be gained by bounties or by a draft. Patriotic 
enthusiasm will be exhausted in filling the first call; at least 
the experience of the past confirms this statement. Bounties 
tend to chill patriotism, debase manhood and lead to extrav- 
agance and peculation. A draft recognizes the responsibil- 



320 Bull Run to Chanceilorsville 

ity of citizenship, and is a just method of providing for the 
public defense. 

Congress has provided the soldier with clothing, equip- 
ments, rations, pay, spiritual guidance, pensions for disa- 
bilities incurred in the service, and homes for the aged, and, 
in these provisions, has gone beyond the pohcy of any other 
country to promote his efl&ciency and to satisfy his wants, 
except to provide the best means to protect his health, cure 
his diseases and heal his wounds. The Medical Department, 
throughout the Civil War, the Spanish War, and to the pres- 
ent time, has been treated with marked indifiference and 
neglect by Congress. The personnel is kept far below the 
number requisite to perform efficiently the duties devolving 
upon that department, and the recommendations of men of 
the highest scientific attainments, supported by officers of the 
largest experience in miHtary affairs, have failed to secure 
for the Army an adequate medical force and the benefits 
of the latest discoveries which scientific investigations have 
brought into medical and surgical practice. 

After every material provision has been made for the sol- 
dier's efficiency and welfare, there are other means of greatly 
enhancing his usefulness; these consist in official recogni- 
tion of his meritorious conduct in the presence of the enemy. 
We have now brevet appointments and Medals of Honor, 
but their usefulness has been minimized by the delay in 
conferring them. Every act of an officer or soldier, wherein 
he displays unusual skill, valor, fortitude or devotion to the 
flag, or to a disabled comrade, should receive prompt recog- 
nition, and in a manner to acquaint the entire command 
with the circumstances for which the honorable notice is 
given. Such awards are inspiring, not only to the recipient 
but to the army, for honorable ambition and love of glory 
are unquestionably controlling motives, which move the 
springs of action to the performance of the most valorous 



Military Efficiency 321 

deeds, deeds which are inspiring to others; and, if promptly- 
recognized, the beneficial effects are greatly extended. An 
army commander should be authorized to bestow medals of 
merit, and be furnished with such a number that he can 
cause to be awarded prompt recognition of every act of con- 
spicuous bravery. Congressional Medals of Honor and 
brevet appointments should be bestowed as early as possi- 
ble, and not withheld until the war is over, when they are 
useful only as family heir-looms. 

Probably ninety per cent, of the brevet appointments and 
Medals of Honor were awarded after the close of the war 
in which they were earned, and consequently were valueless 
in the essential element for which they were authorized, as 
incitements to noble deeds. 

As a world power, we need more than ever before to raise 
our military and naval forces to the highest state of efficiency, 
to bring into use every discovery which will express in the 
shortest time and most effective manner the nation's strength. 
Such a policy will increase the number of the nation's days 
of peace, it will insure the world's respect and, should evil 
days befall us, it will put the country in a position to compel 
peace in the shortest time and with the least cost. Writing 
these closing lines on the forty-first anniversary of my last 
battle, I feel more keenly than ever the inexpressible horrors 
of armed strife, and, while desiring the nation to cultivate 
the arts of peace with the greatest assiduity, I, nevertheless, 
beheve that suitable preparation for war is the surest guar- 
antee of peace. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

THE REGIMENTAL ROSTER 

ROSTER of the Sixteenth New York Infantry Volunteers 
mustered into the United States service for the term of two 
years at Albany, May 15, 1861. Mustered out at Albany, May 
22, 1863. 

The Arabic figures following the names indicate, first, the age, 
and, secondly, the height in feet and inches of the member at the 
date of muster into service. In the cases of those who joined 
after May 15, 1861, the date of their appointment or enlistment 
follows the figures indicating height. The rules adopted by the 
War Department for capitalization and punctuation have been 
followed here. 

The abbreviations used are as follows: resd, for resigned; disa, 
for disease; wds, for wounds; dis, for discharge; tr, for transferred; 
m o, for mustered out. 

The three members unaccounted for are doubtless dead, but 
their friends do not authorize their being so reported; James A. 
Hurley was last heard from in 1866; George H. Forsythe, in 1875; 
Alpheus Tompkins, in 1880. 

Field 22 1863 brig gen U S V by bvt 

„ , , Mar 13 1865 ^^^ N°'^ 29 1900 

Davies, Thomas A. — 51 5,8 brig Lieutenant Colonels 

gen Mar 7 1862 maj gen U S V Marsh, Samuel— 42 5,10 died 

by bvt July 11 1865 m o Aug 24 ^ds July 4 1862 

1865 died Aug 18 1890 Palmer, Franklin— 27 5,8 capt co 

Rowland, Joseph— 26 5,10 Mar 7 c maj July 4 1862 It col Sept 28 

1862 resd wds Sept 28 1862 brig 1862 wd m o May 22 1863 Platts- 

gen U S V by bvt Mar 13 1865 burgh N Y 

died April i 1886 . 

Seaver, Joel J.— 38 5,10 capt co Majors 

I maj Nov 11 1861 It col July 4 Palmer, Buel — 38 5,11 mo Nov 11 

1862 col Sept 28 1862 m o May 1861 died May 7 1894 



Regimental Roster 



323 



GiLMORE, John C. — 25 5,9 capt 
CO F wd maj Sept 29 1862 m o 
May 22 1863 It col 193 N Y m o 
Jan 18 1866 2 It 12 U S I capt 
38 U S I maj It col col A A Gen 
USA brig gen U S V Spanish 
war brig gen USA Ret Medal 
of Honor Salem Heights Va May 
3 1863 Washington D C 

Staff 
Adjutants 

Rowland, Joseph — 26 5,10 capt 
A A Gen U S V Sept 20 1861 
(Field Roster) 

Wn,soN, Robert P. — 22 5,6 2 It 
CO D adjt Sept 20 1861 wd A A 
Gen U S V Mar 11 1863 wd maj 
121 NY declined ^commission 
resd wds Feb 18 1864 died Oct 
15 1893 

Nevin, David A. — 26 6 capt co A 
resd disa July 20 1862 Re-enl 
Aug 23 1862 2 It Aug 23 1862 
adjt Mar 11 1863 m o May 22 

1863 capt adjt 142 N Y tr to 169 
N Y m o July 19 1865 died Nov 
18 1886 

Quartermasters 
deWindt, Arthur — 27 5,9 resd 

Oct 28 1861 capt 128 N Y resd 

Mar 19 1864 Fishkill-on-the- 

Hudson N Y 
Davies, William H. — 41 5, 7 Oct 

28 1861 m o May 22 1863 Og- 

densburg N Y 

Surgeon 

Crandall, William B. — 27 5,10 

m o May 22 1863 asst surg 29 

Conn V surgeon 33 U S C T m 

o Jan 31 1866 died May i 1869 

Assistant Surgeons 
MooERS, John H. — 33 5,7 surg 118 
N Y Aug 7 1862 resd April 4 

1864 A A Surg USA killed Sept 
17 1868 Indian wars 

Murphy, Charles C. — 38 5,6 
June 24 1862 surg 12 N Y Inf 
Dec 31 1862 m o May 17 1863 
died Aug 8 1874 

Pardee, Charles I. — 25 5,6 Sept 



13 1862 m o May 22 1863 died 
Nov 3 1899 

Chaplains 
Stratton, Royal B. — 34 5,6 June 

24 1861 resd disa Oct 31 1861 

died Jan 23 1875 
Millar, Andrew M. — 42 5,8 Jan 

4 1862 resd disa Sept 26 1862 

died Aug 22 1896 
Hall, Francis B. — 35 5,8 Oct 17 

1862 m o May 22 1863 Medal of 

Honor Salem Heights Va May 

3 1863 died Oct 4 1903 

Field and Staff 
Average age at muster in 2,3,t^ years 
Average height at muster in 5 feet, 
8^ inches 

Non-commissioned Staff 

Sergeants Major 

Tapley, Frederick C. — 29 5,11 

capt July 6 1 86 1 assd to co. B. 
Ketchum, Franklin S. — 20 5,9! 
corp CO K pro Oct 16 1861 dis disa 
Sept 10 1862 died July 28 1899 
Munson, Charles N. — 21 5,9! 
corp sergt co B sergt-maj Oct 9 

1862 returned to co Dec i 1862 
See B Roster 

White, George — 20 5,6^ corp co 
B pro Dec i 1862 m o May 22 

1863 died Sept 13 1905 

Quartermaster Sergeants 
Moore, Charles F. — 20 5,8 dis 
disa Feb 3 1862 ist It 16 N Y cav 
tr to 3 N Y Prov cav m o Sept 2 1 
1865 capt N Y V by bvt died 
Nov 25 1877 
Daniels, William H. — 21 5,5 corp 
CO A pro Feb 3 1862 capt A Q M 
U S V July 16 1862 bvt maj U S V 
Mar 13 1865 m o Sept 10 1865 
Ogdensburg N Y 
Spalding, Henry E. — 21 5,7 corp 
CO A pro July 16 1862 m o May 
22 1863 died July 15 1904 

Commissary Sergeant 
Warnock, Robert A. — 19 5,5 July 
I 1861 CO D pro July 4 1861 m o 
May 22 1863 died July 2 1870 



324 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Hospital Stewards 
Gant, George H. — 37 5,7 co C 
pro June 30 1861 dis for pro June 
10 1862 Veterinary 16 N Y cav 
tr to 3 Prov cav m o Sept 21 1865 
died Nov 22 1865 
Latz, Henry — 7,2, 5,ii| enl July 12 
1861 G 27 N Y tr to 16 N Y 
June 12 1862 m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl B 118 N Y m o June 13 
1865 died Aug 27 1901 

Drum Major 
Utter, Howard B. — 21 5,9 J m o 
Oct 4 1862 G O No 126 Hd-Qrs 
A P Re-enl drum major 142 
N Y 2 It June 2 1864 i It Feb 17 
1865 m o June 7 1865 died Sept 
23 1898 

Fife Majors 

Wetherby, David N. — 21 5, 9 J tr 
to CO A May 21 1861 

Boston, Daniel Wm. — 32 s,8J 
mus CO I fife maj May i 1862 
m o Oct 1862 G O No 126 Hd- 
Qrs A P Re-enl fife major 193 
N Y m o Jan 18 1866 Soldiers' 
Home Bath N Y 

Non-commissioned Staff 

Average age at muster in 24^*^ years. 
Average height at muster in 5 feet 
and 7 inches. 

Regimental Band 

Enlisted Sept 26 1861 to Oct 8 1861 
m o G O No 91 W D July 29 
1862 

Leaders 
Parish, Lucius H.— 33 5,5^ dis 

disa Feb 20 1862 Watertown 

Mass. 
Meeker, David J. — 29 s.ioj m o 

Aug 9 1862 dead 

Members 

Baker, Edv^^ard — 28 5,5^ m o Aug 
9 1862 Re-enl B 193 N Y m o 
Jan 18 1866 Potsdam N Y 

Chandler, Hiram G. — 32 5,ioi 
m o Aug 9 1862 Re-enl B 16 



N Y I tr to F 121 N Y m o June 

25 1865 died April 28 1903 
Crosby, George N. — 20 5,io| m o 

Aug 9 1862 Rochester N Y 
Goodrich, Robert L. — 25 5,8 dis 

disa Jan 10 1862 died Dec 16 

1897 
Jerome, Ambrose — 26 5,4^ m o 

Aug 9 1862 died Nov 23 1899 
Johnson, William E. — 29 5,6 m o 

Aug 9 1862 died Feb 17 1885 
Knowles, William S. — 39 5,5 m o 

Aug 1862 died Aug 27 1888 
McDonald, John F. — 28 5,3! wd 

m o Aug 9 1862 Re-enl Band 3 

brig 3 div 20 corps m o June 12 

1865 died Sept 22 1901 
Miles, Nathan K. S. — 25 5,4 m o 

Aug 9 1862 Brooklyn N Y 
Palmer, Albert D. — 23 5,6^ m o 

Aug 9 1862 died Nov 13 1884 
Sharp, Ossian R. — 32 5,8^ m o 

Aug 9 1862 dead 
Spencer, James, Jr. — 18 5,8^ m o 

Aug 9 1862 capt 20 N Y cav 

resd Jan 30 1865 Gouverneur 

NY 
Thrall, Jason H. — 19 5,8^ m o 

Aug 9 1862 Almonte Canada 
Thrall, Joseph G. — 18 5,3! m o 

Aug 9 1862 Gloversville N Y 
ViCKERY, Mathias F. — 23 5,9 m o 

Aug 9 1862 New Brunswick 

NJ 
Washburn, Miles — 41 5,8^ m o 

Aug 9, 1862 died 1885 

Regimental Band 

Average age at muster in 27^^ years. 
Average height at muster in 5 feet 
and 7 inches 



COMPANY A 
Captains 

Nevin, David A. — 25, 6, resd disa 
July 20 1862 Re-enl Aug 23 
1862 in same co 2 It to date Aug 
23 1862 adjt Mar 11 1863 see 
staff roster 

Merry, Isaac T. — 23 5,9^ ist 
sergt ist It Nov 11 1861 wd capt 
July 21 1862 m o May 22 1863 
Ogdensburg N Y 



Regimental Roster 



i25 



First Lieutenants 
Van Ness, Peter L. — 42 5,9 wd 

capt assd to co I Nov 11 186 1 see 

CO I roster 
Flagg, Oliver B. — 22 5,9 sergt 

I It Sept 29 1862 m o May 22 1863 

capt 14 N Y H A resd May i 1864 

Kalamazoo Mich 

Second Lieutenants 
Jones, Charles L. — 24 5, 6 J wd 

1 It Aug 7 1862 see co C roster 
Cox, Frederick M. — 22 5,9 sergt 

2 It Mar I r 1863 m o May 22 1863 
Decatur Ills 

Sergeants 
Wilson, Hill H. — 21 s.iof dis 

disa Sept 24 1861 died May 23 

1896 
Huntington, Charles W. — 22 5,7 J 

pvt sergt ist sergt m o May 22 

1863 Odgensburg N Y 
DoRAN, Isaac W. — 25 5,11 pvt corp 

sergt wd m o May 22 1863 Re- 
enl E 14 N Y H A ist sergt 2 It 
May 28 1864 dis disa Dec 15 

1864 died Aug 20 1865 
Butler, Frederick A. — 21 5,9 

pvt wd sergt m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl L 26 N Y cav m o July i 

1865 dead 

Lyon, John L. — 19 5, 10 J pvt sergt 
m o May 22 1863 Oakland Cal 

Corporals 
Daniels, William H. — 20 5,5 q m 

sergt Feb 3 1862 see n c staff 

roster 
Spalding, Henry E. — 21 5,7 wd 

q m sergt July 22 1862 see n c 

staff roster 
GoDDEN, George H. — 21 s,8i pvt 

corp dis wds Sept 25 1862 2 It 142 

N Y dis wds Dec 30 1862 Og- 

densburg N Y 
GoDDEN, John — 19 5,8 pvt wd 

m o May 22 1863 Olean N Y 
Cowan, Joseph — 20 5,8^ pvt m o 

May 22 1863 died Feb 15 1888 
Brashaw, Francis — 19 5,5 pvt wd 

m o May 22 1863 died Sept 20 

1885 



Waterman, Erskine C. — 20 5,5 J 
pvt m o May 22 1863 dead 

Musicians 

Bean, William W. — 18 5,5 m o 
May 22 1863 Streator Ills 

Stafford, John H. — 21 5,8 tr from 
CO I June 17 x86i m o May 22 
1863 Re-enl A 13 N Y cav ist 
sergt m o Aug 17 1865 dead 

Privates 

Bario, John — 20 5,6^ wd m o May 
22 1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y H A 
corp m o Aug 26 1865 Soldiers' 
Home Dayton Ohio 

Bartlett, Francis M. — 18 5,7 dis 
writ H C May 25 186 1 Re-enl E 
142 N Y corp died disa Mar 21 
1863 

Bews, Alexander — 45 5, 10 J m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl H 83 N Y 
killed May 10 1864 

Blair, James C. — 21 6,3 wd m o 
May 22 1863. Re-enl q m serg 
L 26 N Y cav m o July i 1865 
Chicago Ills 

Brown, Elias C. — 20 5,6 m o May 
22 1863 Re-enl corp sergt G 13 
N Y cav died Aug 21 1863 of 
injuries received in service 

Burgess, Thomas B. — 22 5,8^ wd 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl I 13 
N Y cav corp sergt m o Aug 17 
1865 dead 

Carver, J. Newton — 23 5,ioiwd 
m o May 22 1863 died July 10 
1887 

Cater, John — 25 5,4 m o May 22 
1863 Plainfield Wis 

Cavanaugh, Charles — 32 5,3 J m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl G 26 N Y 
cav m o July 6 1865 Soldiers' 
Home Bath N Y 

Clements, James — 19 5,7 wd m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl D 39 N Y 
ist sergt m o June 7 1865 Sol- 
diers' Home Milwaukee Wis 

CoLViN, John — 26 5,11 m o May 
22 1863 Hillsboro Tex 

CoNNELL, Henry — 20 5,4^ m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl F ist U S 
vet inft V m o Feb 6 1866 died 
Aoril 8 1899 



326 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Crowley, Dennis — 24 5,6 dis disa 
June 14 1861 died Nov 1861 

Dempsey, Michael — 21 5,8 m o 
May 22 1863 dead 

Dixon, William A. — 18 5,7^ wd 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl A 14 
N Y H A m o Aug 26 1865 died 
Jan 1906 

Edgar, Benjamin — 19 5,6 wd m o 
May 25 1863 North Stockholm 
NY 

Ellsworth, Delos B. — 18 5,7 m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl B 14 N Y 
H A ist sergt dis paroled prisoner 
of war Mar i 1865 died Feb 19 
1884 

Fallon, James — 20 5,10 killed 
June 27 1862 

Favereau, Alfred — 19 5,9 wd m o 
May 22 1863 Chicago Ills 

Freehling, Leopold M. — 22 5,9 
m o May 22 1863 Chicago Ills 

Fulton, James M. — 34 5,10^ tr 
from CO F Oct 20 186 1 desr Mar 
7 1862 Re-enl art Black River 
Falls Wis. 

Green, Charles S. — 23 5,7 m 
o May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 
N Y H A died G H Feb 29 
1864 

Hill, Charles W. — 20 5,6 m o May 
22 1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y H A 
m o Aug 26 1865 died 1901 

HoRTON, James E. — 18 5,6 wd m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl L 26 N Y 
cav m o July i 1865 West Branch 
Mich 

Hurley, James A. — 18 5,7^ m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl C 24 N Y 
cav I St sergt (comd 2 It not mus- 
tered) tr to 3d prov cav m o 
July 19 1865 Mobile Ala 1866 

Johnson, James — 19 5,7 m o May 
22 1863 dead 

McBroom, Samuel — 33 5, 10 J dis 
wds Dec 23 1862 Re-enl corp 
G 13 N Y cav tr to H 3 prov cav 
m o Sept 21 1865 Oswegatchie 
NY 

McClelland, John — 23 5,7^ m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl corp A 14 
N Y H A died disa in service 
Sept 8 1864 

Marceau, Simon — 19 15,9 dis disa 
Oct 2 1861 Re-enl C 106 N Y 



corp m o June 22 1865 died Jan 

8 1898 
Merhy, Henry — 24 5,8^ dis wds 

Feb 14 1863 Re-enl A 7 N Y 

H A killed June 3 1864 
Mitchell, John — 24 5,10^ dis wds 

Mar 12 1863 Re-enl A 16 N Y 

cav m o Aug 21 1865 died May 

16 1882 
Mitchell, John A. — 24 5,5^ m o 

May 22 1863 died May 24 1883 
Myers, Joseph — 18 5,5^ dis disa 

Nov 19 1862 dead 
Nowland, Joseph — 21 5,5 dropped 

April 19 1862 Re-enl as James 

Rogers A 3 Wis m o July 18 1865 

Ogdensburg N Y 
Nowland, Peter, Jr. — 27 5,4^ dis 

disa Jan 10 1862 Re-enl A 26 

N Y cav m o July i 1865 died 

Aug II 1884 
Patterson, Henry V. R. — 22 5,9 

dis disa Dec 23 1861 died April 

27 1889 
Payne, Charles A., Jr. — 19 5,5 

m o May 22 1863 St. Paul Minn 
Pero, Michael — 19 5,4 desr Oct 

2 1862 died Aug 23 1890 
Pops, Joseph — 22 5,6^ desr April 

25 1862 died 1890 
Quag an, James — 29 5, 4 desr April 

20 1862 dead 
Rose, George S. — 25 5,9 dis disa 

Mar 23 1862 Re-enl and died 

in service 
Ross, Thomas — 24 5,8^ died dis 

Feb 27 1862 
Russell, Stephen B. — 22 5,7 m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y 

H A sergt ist sergt 2 It ist It m o 

Aug 26 1865 Chicago Ills 
Ryan, John — 18, 5,7^ dis disa July 

19 1862 Re-enl E 142 N Y m o 

June 7 1865 Soldiers' Home 

Dayton Ohio 
Ryan, Timothy — 20, 5,9 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl I 14 N Y H A 

m o Aug 26 1865 died Nov 10 

1888 
Service, Henry H. — 20 5,11 m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl A 14 N Y 

H A q m sergt 2 It ist It dis wds 

Sept 21 1864 died Dec 20 1886 
Smith, Charles A. — 18 5,9 dis disa 

Oct 7 1861 Re-enl 11 N Y indpt 



Regimental Roster 



327 



batt as Meyns, Charles A wd 
m o June 13 1865 died Mar 1905 

Strong, David — 32 5,7 desr July 
26 1861 dead 

Sullivan, Michael — 20 5,5^ m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl G 13 N Y 
cav m o April 4 1865 died Dec 
5 1888 

SwARTFEGER, JOSEPH (alias Par- 
kerson, Joseph E) — 18 5,5^ m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl A ist D C 
cav m o Oct 28 1865 Vienna 
Georgia 

Symonds, Edward A. — 26 5,11 mo 
May 22 1863 died Aug 17 1889 

Todd, James — 23 5,7 m o May 22 

1863 Re-enl G 13 N Y cav corp 
tr B 3 prov cav m o Sept 21 1865 
Depeyster N Y 

Trickey, Henry C. — 29 5,10^ dis 
disa Oct 30 1862 Ogdensburg 
N Y 

Wall, James — 19 5,7! desr Aug 
25 1862 Re-enl I 5 Ohio cav 
m o Oct 30 1865 Gouverneur 
NY 

Weller, William — 20 5,8^ m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl A 14 N Y 
H A m o Aug 13 1865 died Aug 
19 1895 

Wetherby, David N. — 22 5,9^ 
reduced from n c staff May 21 

1861 tr to CO C Oct 3 1861 see 
CO C roster 

White, George B.— 185, 7i killed 
May 3 1863 

Wright, Robert — ;^^ 5,5 m o May 
22 1863 Re-enl C 142 N Y m o 
June 7 1865 died May 2 1898 

Recruits 
Alvord, Lore — 22 5,9 May 27 1861 
July 24 1862 ist It 8 Maine (comd 
capt not mustered) m o Oct 14 

1864 died Mar 30 1900 
AvERiLL, Daniel J. — 37 5,9 Oct 

8 1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
C 18 N Y cav m o May 31 1865 
dead 
Best, Isaac O. — 21 5,9 Aug 15 

1862 tr to A 121 N Y m o June 
25 1865 Chili Station N Y 

DoR.Aj^, Samuel B. — 31 5,9 Sept 13 
1862 tr to D 121 N Y dis disa 
Dec 15 1864 Waddington N Y 



Fleming, Charles C. — 21 5,7 May 

30 1861 dis disa Jan 28 1862 

dead 
Goodness, Francis — 18 5,6 June 

24 1861 died disa Sept i 1861 
Harnett, John — 25 5,8^ April i 

1862 wd tr to 121 N Y tr to I 10 

V R corps m o April i 1865 ex 

of service Altona N Y 
Hately, James — 23 5,10 Sept 3 1862 

tr to A 121 N Y m o June 25 1865 

died Nov 20 1900 
Helmer, John — 26 5,10 Sept i6 

1862 wd tr to G 121 N Y died in 

service May 23 1864 
Lafontain, Moses H. — 27 5,11 

Aug 16 1862 tr to A 121 N Y m o 

June 25 1865 died Feb 2 1890 
Lecompt, Remie — 26 5,6 Mar 27 

1862 dis disa May 10 1862 dead 
McCouRT, George M. — 18 6 Sept 

15 1862 tr to A 121 N Y dis 

O W D June i 1865 London 

Wis 
Manor, Gload — 21 5,4^ Oct 3 1861 

dis disa Aug 7 1862 Ogdensburg 

N Y 
Northrup, Levi S. — 19 5,6 June 

24 1861 killed June 30 1862 
Parlow, William H. — 21 5,9 Sept 

14 1862 tr to G 121 N Y dis wds 

June 9 1865 died Mar 3 1898 
Peterson, William W. — 25 6,1 

May 19 1861 died disa May 19 

1862 
Potts, William W.— 18 5,8§ Oct 

28 i86x m o May 22 1863 died 

1905 

Redington, Henry V. — 21 5,7! 
Sept 6 1862 tr to G 121 N Y 
comd 2 It 118 N Y declined com 
m o Aug 21 1863 Sidney Neb 

Reed, William A. — 22 5,7 Oct 4 

1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
D 13 N Y cav tr to 3 prov N Y 
cav m o Sept 21 1865 John- 
son City Tenn 

Sargent, James — 21 5,6 Oct 7 1861 
dis disa Feb 20 1863 Re-enl D 
13 N Y cav died disa in service 
Dec 8 1863 

Shay, George — 25 5,10 Sept 8 

1862 tr to G 121 N Y died wds 
April II 1864 

Siddon, George — 19 5,7 Mar 20 



328 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



1862 wd tr G 121 N Y m o Mar 

25 1865 ex service New Salem 
Mass 

Smith, John — 18 5,8 Feb 10 1862 
tr E 121 N Y m o Feb 10 1865 
ex service dead 

Smith, Phillip— 25 5,8^ Feb 10 
1862 tr E 121 N Y m o Feb 10 
1865 ex service died Feb 23 
1869 

Stark, Thomas H.— 30 5,5! Sept 
16 1862 tr A 121 N Y died wds 
prisoner of war June 25 1864 

Steele, Wilbur— 25 5,10^ Oct 3 
1861 desr Nov 19 1861 dead 

TiBBiTTS, Hyman — 24 5,6^ Sept 30 
1861 tr from co C Oct 20 1861 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H ist 
N Y L A m o Oct 30 1865 died 
Dec 19 1901 

Tromblee, Joseph — 21 5,6 Mar 

26 1862 tr to 121 N Y V Re-enl 
M6NYHAmo Sept 5 1865 
dead 

Van Valkenburgh, James S. — 21 
6,0^ desr Aug 25 1862 dead 

Willis, John — 35 5,8 Sept 20 1862 
wdtrGi2iNY died wds P of 
W June II 1864 

Average age 2 2y\ years 

Average height 5 feet 8 inches 



Second Lieutenants 
Eastman, George L. — 24 5,11 

resd disa Oct 8 1863 died Nov 

II 189 1 
Hesselgrave, William E. — 24 6,o| 

corp sergt 2 It Oct 9 1862 killed- 

May 3 1863 

Sergeants 

Marden, George W. — 31 5,iii ist 

sergt desr June 24 1861 Re-enl 

under another name in cav and 

served through the war died 

189s 

MtmsoN, Charles N. — 20 5,92 
corp sergt sergt major returned to 
CO 2 It 106 N Y Mar 27 1863 ist 
It Jan 30 1864 dis wds Dec 19 
1864 Pasadena Cal 

Marsh, Washington — 21 5, 6 J serg 
ist sergt wd m o May 22 1863 
Villisca Iowa 

Eddy, Jerome B. — 21 5,7! corp 
sergt wd m o May 22 1863 Re- 
enl q m sergt G 13 N Y cav m o 
Aug 17 1865 died Dec 25 1877 

Baldwin, Benjamin F. — 22 5,7! 
sergt wd m o May 22 1863 died 
Dec 2 1895 

Barclay, John — 21 5, 6 J sergt m o 
May 22 1863 Kansas City Mo 



COMPANY B 

Captains 

Pomeroy, James M. — 24 6 resd 
July 6 1 86 1 maj 9 Kansas cav 
wd It col 4 regt V R C col U S V 
by bvt Mar 13 1865 m o April 27 
1866 died Nov 17 1887 

Tapley, Frederick C. — 29 5,11 
sergt major capt July 6 1861 m o 
May 22 1863 died Sept 8 1896 

First Lieutenants 

Hopkins, Wilson — 26 5,6 wd capt 
Oct 14 1862 assd CO H see H 
roster 

Knapp, Edwin C. — 20 5,6^ sergt 
1st sergt ist It Oct 14 1862 m o 
May 22 1863 capt 193 N Y m o 
Jan 18 1866 died Mar 18 1898 



Corporals 
White, George — 20 5,6^ corp 

sergt major Dec i 1862 see n c 

staff roster 
Barnes, Charles P. — 34 5,8| dis 

disa Oct 20 1862 died Aug 21 

1895 
Johnson, Simon E. — 27 5,9 killed 

June 27 1862 
Baird, James E. — 21 5,9^ dis wds 

Dec 16 1862 Baltimore Md 
Fuller, Alonzo R. — 20 5,5! wd 

m o May 22 1863 Malone N Y 
Beach, Alva — 20 5,6^ wd m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl G 14 N Y H A 

corp 1st sergt killed June 17 

1864 
Desmond, Edmond N. — 18 5,ioi 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl G 6 

N Y H A m o Aug 24 1865 died 

Sept 7 1889 



Regimental Roster 



329 



Musicians 
Church, Joseph M. — 42 5,8 dis 

disa July 28 1861 died April 4 

1891 
Richards, James W. — 21 5, 10 J tr 

to CO F Nov 23 1 86 1 see F roster 

Privates 
Barton, John — 21 5,6f desr July 

28 1861 Re-enl D 92 N Y Mar 

9 1862 dead 
Bradley, Aaron — 20 5,8 died 

disa Oct 2 1861 
Bradley, Orlando J. — 20 5,2^ 

m o May 22 1863 Benton Harbor 

Mich 
Botsford, William H. — 21 5,8 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl B 11 

N Y cav corp m o Sept 30 1865 

Canton N Y 
Bottom, Henry — 25 5,9^ wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl M 14 N Y 

H A killed June 17 1864 
Brewer, Dennis— 18 5, 6 J m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl G 13 N Y 

cav corp tr to B 3 N Y prov cav 

m o Sept 21 1865 died May 28 

1892 
Call, Charles B. — 19 5,7 dis wds 

Jan 27 1863 Norwood N Y 
Chase, Joseph — 20 5,8^ killed 

June 27 1862 
Church, Miles F. — 19 5,8^ dis wds 

Jan 9 1863 Bethel Vt. 
Clark, George J. — 19 5,5^ m o 

May 22 1863 Chetek Wis 
Cluff, Harvey — 20 5,6^ dis wds 

Jan 22 1863 Re-enl G 13 N Y 

cav dis wds Oct 15 1864 died 

Jan 25 1897 
Collins, Enos S. — 21 5,8^ died 

wds Sept 17 1862 
Colon, Adln — 18 5,6f died wds 

July 10 1862 P of W 
Cornish, Alfred — 28 5,9 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl A 5 Vt sergt 

m o July 22 1866 West Vienna 

NY 
Currier, Theodore F. — 20 5, 8 J 

died disa Aug 16, 1862 
Darling, Roswell A. — 23 5,11 wd 

m o May 22 1863 died Feb 9 

1874 
Davis, Theodore W. — 27 5,11 dis 

disa Nov 3 1862 Granton Wis 



Dechene, William H. — 21 5,10^ 

m o May 22 1863 died Oct 21 

1893 
Duncan, John S. — 44 5,11 dis disa 

June 19 1861 Re-enl G 14 N Y 

H A dis disa Dec 17 1863 dead 
Follett, Martin G. — ^30 5,8 wd 

m o May 22 1863 Sherburn, 

Minn 
FoLSOM, Frank H. — 23 5,11 dis 

disa Feb 17 1862 died Dec 15 

1896 
Ford, John — 22 5,5f dis disa Dec 

22 1862 Re-enl H 9 Maine m o 

June 10 1865 died Sept 27 1897 
Fuller, Nelson — 27 5, 10 J desr 

Oct 19 1861 died June 30 1892 
Gladden, Loren — 23 5,9! tr to 

CO F Nov 22 1 86 1 see F roster 
GooDRicK, Isaac — 18 5,8^ wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl C 13 N Y 

HAtrtoK6NYHA corp m o 

Aug 24 1865 died Aug i 1896 
Grennon, Francis — 21 5,6 killed 

June 27 1862 
Grennon, Meles — 19 5,7 m o May 

22 1863 Marengo Ills. 
Grennon, William H. — 27 5,5^ 

dis disa, Jujie 4 1861 Re-enl 

killed in service 
Hume, William — 19 5,9 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl I 13 N Y cav 

sergt tr E 3 N Y prov cav m o 

Sept 21 1865 
Hutchins, Bradley G. — 34 6,1 

m o May 22 1863 died July 20 

1889 
King, Oliver B. — 26 5,8^ dis Jan 

25 1862 Re-enl E 109 Pa Dec 

1862 died 1880 
Lamere, Octave — 19 5,9 J m o May 

22 1863 died 1863 
Lavine, Nelson — 19 5,8 dis disa 

June 4 1861 Re-enl C 92 N Y 

died in service May 31 1862 
Marden, Hart — 22 5,9^ dis disa 

Aug II 1862 Childwold N Y 
Marden, Hector M. — 25 5,ii| 

dis disa Sept 1 1 1862 Colton N Y 
McFee, Alexander — 18 5,8^ dis 

wds Jan 29 1863 died May 18 

1894 
Morton, Calvin — 22 5,9^ tr Dec 

15 1862 M ist U S cav killed 

battle Big Horn June 25 1876 



330 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Neseitt, Mathew — 18 6 wd killed 

May 3 1863 
Noble, Alexander — 20 5, 10 J wd 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl B ist 

USV2ltio8USCTmo April 

17 1866 Cleveland, Ohio 
Packard, Truman A. — 22 5, 8 J 

died disa Nov 19 i86r 
Page, Orlando D. — 19 5,11^ v/d 

killed May 3 1863 
Parker, John F. — 21 6,2^ dis wds 

April 4 1863 Depere Wis 
Parody, Francis — 24 5,1 li m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl E 46 N Y 

m o July 28 1865 Potsdam, N 

Y 
Patterson, Abram — 25 5, 8 J dis 

disa June 5 1861 Re-enl C 92 

N Y July 28 1862 dead 
Perkins, Leonard B. — 21 5,7^ wd 

m o May 22 1863 Springfield 

Mo 
Perry Joseph — 27 5,7^ dis wds 

Oct 2 1862 Re-enl G 14 N Y 

H A m o Aug 26 1865 dead 
Perry, Sherman C. — 25 5,10 wd 

m o May 22 1863 Colton N Y 
Powell, Julius A. — 20 5, 11 J wd 

m o May 22 1863 died Dec 21 

1875 

Raymond, Horace H. — 25, 5,9! 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 
N Y H A m o Aug 26 1865 
Johnson Vt 

Seaver, Orin D. — 37 5,6 m o May 
22 1863 died 1866 

Sergeant, James A. — 19 5,9^ m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl G 13 N Y 
cav tr B 3 prov N Y cav m o Sept 
21 1865 died April 10 1879 

Smith, Abram — 35 6,3 dis disa June 
4 186 1 died Nov 8 1898 

Smith, William A. — 18 6,1 dis wds 
Jan 8 1863 Re-enl G 64 N Y 
m o July 14 1865 died Sept 29 
1896 

Sprague, Persho B. — 19 6 wd m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl ist sergt 
F 13 N Y cav m o Aug 17 1865 
Dallas Texas 

TiLLEY, Hiram H.— 18 5,11 dis 
disa June 4 1861 Re-enl G 2 Vt 
wd tr V R C m o Sept 13 1864 St 
George Vt 

Traver, Peter — 25 5,11 dis disa 



May 4 1863 Re-enl A 17 Vt 
sergt died wds Aug 2 1864 
Wilcox, James A. — 28 6,1 dropped 
Oct 15 1862 dead 

Recruits 
Sergeant 
Winters, William — 23 5,5 J June 
24 1861 m o May 22 1863 Schen- 
ectady N Y 

Corporals 
Vallier, John — 21 5,8 June 24 

1861 dis disa June 2 1862 died 

June 18 1862 
Wood, Lucius E. — 23 5,8 May 22 

1861 dis wds Jan 11 1863 Re-enl 

died Mar 5 1865 
BoTSFORD, Mahlon W. — 18 5,8 

Oct 2 1861 m o May 22 1863 

died Nov i 1892 
Clark, Alfred E. — 18 5,8§ June 

24 1861 wd m o May 22 1863 

Re-enl A 13 N Y cav tr to 239 

CO ist batt V R C m o Sept 12 

1865 Horseheads, N Y 
Vallier, Edward — 19 5,7 June 24 

1861 wd m o May 22 1863 died 

May 1892 

Privates 

Aikins, John — 21 5,10 Aug 29 1862 
tr A 121 N Y killed May 14 1864 

Andrews, James A. — 21 5,4^ Sept 
14 1861 died wds Dec 12 1862 

Baldwin, Luman E. — 26, 5,4 Aug 
9 1862 trB 121 NYmo June 25 
1865 Brooklyn N Y 

Bradley, Orson A. — 18 5,7^ June 
24 i86r wd m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl G 13 N Y cav tr B 3 N Y 
prov cav m o Sept 21 1865 Sol- 
diers' Home Grand Rapids Mich 

Bruce, Nathan C. — 18 5,7! Sept 
21 1861 dis disa Oct 23 1862 An- 
tigo Wis 

Butler, John E. — 41 5,8f Sept 24 
1 86 1 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
M 6 N Y H A died disa in ser- 
vice Dec 26 1864 

Cary, Alpheus E. — 19 5,6| May 22 
1861 dis wds Nov 22 1862 Re-enl 



Regimental Roster 



33^ 



i2VRC2lt3dUSCTmo 
Jan 20 1866 Joplin Mo 

Chandler, Hiram G. — ^^ 5, 10^ 
Sept 3 1862 tr to F 121 N Y m o 
June 25 1865 died April 28 1903 

Chase, Henry G. — 22 5,9 Nov 12 
1861 dis disa Feb 3 1863 Bur- 
lington Vt 

Darling, Nathan — 44 5,11 Oct 3 

1861 dis disa May 11 1862 died 
Dec 26 1892 

Dechene, Antoine — 19 6 Aug 26 

1862 tr to B 121 N Y tr 3d N Y 
indpt battery m o June 24 1865 
died Oct I 1893 

Decker, Jacob — 25 5,10 June 24 
1861 desr Sept 6 1862 died 1869 

DusTiN, Calvin M. — 21 5, 9 J Aug 
26 1862 tr to A 121 N Y tr A 6 
FCgt V R C m o July 6 1865 dead 

FiFiELD, Charles C — 19 5,4 Sept 
13 1861 dis disa May 20 1862 
Re-enl D 11 N Y cav m o July 13 
1865 Grand Junction la 

Freeman, John R. — 21 5, 10 J Sept 
16 1861 m o Sept 16 1863 Pots- 
dam N Y 

Gutridge, George — 27 5,8 Aug 
23 1862 trB i2iNYmo June 
25 1865 dead 

Hancock Isaac — 28 5,7^ Sept 23 
1861 dis disa April 24 1862 Re- 
enl K 142 N Y m o June 7 1865 
died Dec 19 1900 

Healey, Moses V. — 18 5,9^ Oct 2 
1861 died disa Nov 24 1861 

Heaton, Charles — 20 5,4^ Nov 12 
1861 dis disa May 30 1862 died 
Dec 27 1896 

Hurd, Thomas W. — 24 5,4 Oct 10 
1861 dis disa Oct 23 1862 died 
Aug 19 1881 

HusE, Daniel — 26 5,8 Oct 2 1861 
dis disa Jan 15 1863 Canton N Y 

Kennedy, David W. — 45 5,6 Aug 
19 1862 dis disa Jan ii 1863 
dead 

Larock, Norbert — 18 5,4^ Oct 7 
1861 m o May 22 1863 Olathe 
Kan 

Laughlin, John — ^38 5, 6 J Oct 9 
186 1 m o Nov 25 1863 died Feb 
3 1903 

Leet, Horace — 27 6 Oct n 1861 
m o May 22 1863 Norwood N Y 



Marden, Jackson — 18 5,9 Aug 29 

1862 tr B 121 NY killed May 
10 1864 

McCOMBER, AdOLPHUS — 19 5,10^ 

Sept II 186 1 killed June 27 
1862 
Morton, Harrison H. — 20 5,9^ 
June 24 1861 wd m o May 22 

1863 Re-enl D 11 N Y cav 
m o Sept 30 1865 died April 
30 1903 

Morton, Hurley F. — 18 5,10 Aug 
26 1862 trBi2iNYmo June 
25 1865 died April 7 1897 

Parmenter, Lucien M. — 18 5,4 
Sept 17 1861 dis disa Oct 20 1862 
Nixa Mo 

Parody, Henry — 20 5,4! Sept 27 

1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
G 13 N Y cav tr B 3 N Y prov 
cav m o Sept 21 1865 Potsdam 
NY 

Smith, Charles — 27 5,11 Sept i 

1862 killed May 3 1863 
Smith, Edmond G. — 25 5,11 Sept 

8 1862 captured May 3 1863 pa- 
roled not m o dead 

Smith, Edwin B. — 24 5,9^ Oct 14 
1861 dis disa Feb 7 1863 died 
Mar 26 1897 

Sprague, Eliakim H. — 42 5,iii 
Sept 26 1861 killed June 27 
1862 

Tenney, Darwin — 20 6,oJ Oct i 
1861 wd m o May 22 1863 Col- 
ton N Y 

Thompson, William W. — 18 5,4 
Sept 14 1861 wd m o May 22 1863 
died April 28 1899 

Tichnor, Gaston D. — 18 5,8 Aug 
29 1862 tr B 121 N Y died wds 
Aug 17 1864 

Traver, John D. — 23 5,9^ Oct 18 
1861 dis disa Mar 9 1862 West- 
field Vt 

Tritmble, Harvey W. — 21 5,6| 
Oct I 1861 m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl A 14 N Y H A corp wd 
and captured paroled m o June 
21 1865 Sherburn, Minn 

Worden, Charles — 44 5,6 Oct 3 
1861 killed June 27 1862 

Wilson, John C. — 30 5,10 Oct 7 
1 86 1 desr April 17 1862 dead 

Wilson, William W. — 19 5,7 June 



332 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



21 1861 desr Sept 6 1862 Seattle 

Wash 
Average age 22^^^ years. 
Average height 5,8| inches 

COMPANY C 

Captains 

Palmer, Franklin — 27 5,8 major 
July 4 1862 see field roster 

Moore, Pliny — 26 5,6 2 It wd ist 
It Aug 7 1862 capt to date July 4 
1862 m o May 22 1863 capt 26 
N Y cav m o July 7 1865 died 
Nov 4 i88i 

First Lieutenants 
C©RBiN, Royal — 25 5,5 resd disa 

Aug 7 1862 declined captaincy 

Plattsburgh N Y 
Jones, Charles L. — 24 5,6^ 2d 

It CO A wd ist It Aug 7 1862 m o 

May 22 1863 died Oct 4 1892 

Second Lieutenant 
Hare, Ira W. — 29 5,7^ sergt 2 It 
Aug 7 1862 m o May 22 1863 
died April 10 1900 

Sergeants 
Tennant, Amherst D. — 33 5,4^ 

dis disa Oct 2 1862 died 1882 
BuRDicK, Peter F. — 40 5,7 dis disa 

Dec 24 1862 Re-enl L ist N Y 

Engs m o June 30 1865 died 

May 17 1884 
CoRBiN, George S. — 22 5, 8 J corp 

m o May 22 1863 Plattsburgh 

N Y 
WASHBtIRN, Barnice — 44 5, 7 J m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl E 83 N Y 

tr C 94 N Y tr E 97 N Y dis disa 

Sept 23 1864 died May 4 1886 
Meader, David L. — 21 5,iif m o 

May 22 1863 Manhattan Ills 
MoFFiTT, John H. — 19 5,5^ corp 

wdmo May 22 1863 Medal of 

Honor Gaines' Mill Va June 27 

1862 Plattsburgh N Y 
Christian, William W. — 22 5,7^ 

wd m o May 23 1863 Re-enl A 8 

Wis m o Sept 5 1865 Saranac 

NY 



Corporals 
Clark, Thomas — 29 6,aJ killed 

June 27 1862 
Ford, John — 27 5,11^ dis wds Aug 

18 1862 died Oct 2 1901 
Chappel, Parkman D. — 28 5,9 dis 

disa Dec 13 1862 died Mar 7 

1864 
Tucker, Melvin — 25 5, 5 J m o 

May 22 1863 died Mar 23 1887 
McCarty, Edward — 24 5, 8 J wd 

m o May 22 1863 Potsdam N Y 
Cochran, Silas W — 19 5,iii wd 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl A 16 

N Y cav m o May 3 1 1865 Pierre- 

pont N Y 
Howes, John V. — 22 5,5! wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl G 142 N Y 

m o June 7 1865 died Sept 19 

1896 
Lucas, Charles — 22 5,10^ wd m o 

May 22 1863 Ormstown Can 
Robinson, Rufus — 21 5,11 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl corp I 192 

N Y m o Aug 28 1865 Accokeek 

Md 
Bully, Mitchell — 23 5,9! wd 

m o May 22 1863 died Aug 16 

1900 

Musicians 
Good, Levi — 19 5,5! tr G 5 U S Art 

Oct 23 1862 m o May 7 1863 

died June 3 1887 
McCoy, Augustus — 19 5,7 m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl F 91 N Y 

m o June 8 1865 Natural Bridge 

NY 

Privates 
Amore, Israel — 20 5, 9 J desr Sept 

7 1862 dead 
Armstrong, James — 43 5, 8 J dis 

Nov 8 1861 Re-enl H 96 N Y 

m o Feb 6 1866 died Mar 10 

1900 
Banker, Charles B. — 24 5,8^ m o 

May 22 1863 died April 17 1876 
Bedell, Jacob S. — 26 5,10^ m o 

May 22 1863 died Jan 18 1903 
Bowen, Brainard — 24 5,6§ wd m o 

May 22 1863 Los Angeles Cal 
Caneield, Joseph W. — 21 5, 7 J 

dis disa Feb 2 1863 Re-enl H 2 

N Y vet cav dis disa Feb 18 1864 

Morrisonville N Y 



Regimental Roster 



333 



Chappel, Clark — 32 5,9^ mo 

May 22 1863 Re-enl E 83 N Y tr 

H 97 N Y corp m o June 3 1865 

died Dec 3 i868 
Clark, John J. — 21 5,7^ wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl sergt G 26 

N Y cav m o July 6 1865 Little 

Falls Minn 
Collins, Robert — 21 5,7 killed 

June 27 1862 
CoYLE, William T. — 20 5,9 desr 

Sept 14 1862 Re-enl H 2 N Y 

vet cav died in service Dec 22 

1864 
CuBLEY, Edwin J. — 21 5, 10 J dis 

disa Nov 7 1861 Chicago Ills 
Danforth, Miles — 18 5,7 killed 

May 3 1863 
Dominy, William H. — 20 5, 7 J 

died wds July 4 1862 P of W 
Dunn, William — 24 5,7 killed 

Sept 14 1862 
Garipy, Louis — 20 5, 10 J wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl B ist N Y 

L Art m o June 18 1865 Hol- 

yoke Mass 
Gareow, John — 33 5,7 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Morrisonville N 

Y 
Grant, William — 30 5,6| dis disa 

Sept 6 1 86 1 dead 
Hayes, John B. — 22 5,7! dis disa 

Dec 15 1862 Middlebury Vt 
Henry, Patrick — 45 5,10 dis disa 

June 20 1861 dead 
HiLLiARD, John — 22 5,8 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Ottawa Ills 
Hills, George — 25 5,7! m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl sergt D 17 Vt 

m o July 14 1865 West Redding 

Conn 
Kelley, Thomas — 25 5,7^ desr 

Aug 24 1862 Re-enl A 21 Pa 

cav m o July 8 1865 died Feb 11 

1896 
King, Alexander — 27 5,4^ m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl B ist N Y 

L Art m o June 18 1865 died 

May 29 1901 
LoRAiNE, Michael — 35 5,6^ m o 

May 22 1863 died July 4 1866 
McCafferty, John — 28 5,7 killed 

June 27 1862 
McCarty, John — 22 5,io| dis disa 

Sept 4 1861 died Dec 25 1904 



McKeever, John — 26 5,9 died disa 
Sept 26 1862 

Marshall, George A. — 32 5,65 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl F 2 Vt 
wd m o June 25 1865 died Nov 
61885 

Mathews, John W. — 24 5,11 dis 
disa Sept 6 1861 Re-enl sergt 
H 96 N Y sergt major 2 It ist 
It capt dis disa July 10 1864 
died Aug 11 1867 

MooNEY, Joseph W. — 28 5,5! m o 
May 23 1863 Re-enl B ist N Y 
L Art m o June 18 1865 died 
Nov 12 189 1 

Myers, Thomas — 26 5,8^ killed 
June 27 1862 

Ostrander, Israel — 26 5,7^ dis 
disa Aug 16 1862 Re-enl G 153 
N Y m o Oct 2 1865 died Aug 

4 1904 
Otis, William A. — 23 5,8 dis disa 

Mar 9 1862 Re-eiU F 9 Vt Jan 

I 1863 reported to have re-enl 

and killed in May 1864 
Parks, Thomas— 31, 5,8^ wd m o 

May 23 1863 died May 16 1900 
Pike, Sands N. — 35 5,9! wd m o 

May 23 1863 Re-enl H 153 N Y 

tr to 5 CO 2 bat V R C m o Oct 

28 1865 died Dec 18 1900 
PuTRAW, Joseph — 35 5,9 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Plattsburgh N Y 
Robinson, Heman — 20 5,9^ wd 

killed May 3 1863 
Ruger, Jacob — 20 5, 8 J m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet 

cav died disa in service Oct 24 

1864 
Ryan, Richard — 27 5,11 J m o May 

22 1863 Burlington Vt 
Sargent, Francis H. — 19 5,6^ 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 

N Y vet cav died disa in service 

Dec 22 1864 
Smith, Edwin — 24 5,6f dis disa 

Sept 6 1 86 1 died June 5 1893 
Snow, jBarney — 35 5,8 dis Nov 

12 1861 Re-enl D 16 W Va m o 

June 1863 dead 
Thompson, William — 35 5,8f wd 

m o May 22 1863 died Oct 6 

1896 
Torry, John — 5^ 5,7^ died wds 

Sept 16 1862 



334 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



ToRRY, Lafayette — 36 5,7^ dis 

wds Jan 7 1863 died 1887 
TowNSEND, William — 35 5,9 died 

wds Nov 22 1862 
Varno, James H. — 19 5,6J wd m o 

June 7 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y 

vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 Danne- 

mora, N Y 
VoGAN, Elijah G. — 18 5,7 dis wds 

Mar 18 1863 Re-enl unassd ist 

N Y Eng m o May 8 1865 Platts- 

burg N Y 
Watson, Winslow Z. — 23, 6,2 wd 

m o June 8 1863 Re-enl M 15 

N Y cav m o Aug 9 1865 died 

Mar 29 1895 
Wetherby, David N. — 21 5,9^ tr 

from CO A Oct 3 1861 wd m o June 

7 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav 

m o Nov 8 1865 died Aug 5 1903 
Whitman, Jerome B. — 19 5,1 if 

dis Aug 19 1862 Baltimore Md 
Wilcox, Wallace J. — 20 5,5^ dis 

disa July 15 1862 Re-enl C 91 

N Y m o June 10 1865 Redford 

N Y 
Williams, James L. — 21 5, 7 J 

dropped Oct 14 1862 Los Banos 

Cal 
Williams, Marion F. — 18 5,4 dis 

wds Sept 6 1862 Gettysburg Pa 
Williams, Stephen G. — 23 5,8^ 

wd m o May 23 1863 died Jan 29 

1901 

Recruits 
Corporals 
LtrcAS, Robert T. — 20 5,10^ Sept 
24 1861 dis wds Dec 5 1862 
Alexandria Va 
Power, Andrew — 26 5,8 Sept 27 
1861 m o May 22 1863 Elkhart 
Ind 

Privates 
Barslow, Joseph — 18 5,8 Sept 9 

1861 dis disa Oct 24 1862 Re-en- 

31st CO 2 bat V R C dis Oct 24 

1864 Holyoke Mass 
Bissell, Henry R. — 25 5,6 Aug 

18 1862 killed Sept 14 1862 
BuLLis, Leonard C. — 21 5,9 Sept 

24 1861 wd m o May 22 1863 



Re-enl E 16 N Y cav m o May 26 
1865 died July — 1886 

BusHAW, Camile — 18 5,5 Sept 14 
1861 dis wds Oct 28 1862 Re-enl 
H 2 N Y vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 
died Mar 18 1885 

BusHAW, David — 21 5,10^ Sept 14 
1861 dis disa July 9 1862 Del- 
mar, Del. 

Collins, Calvin A. — 21 5,9 Sept 
21 1861 m o Jime 4 1863 died 
Nov II 1881 

Collins, George W. — 30 5,10 Sept 
23 1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
I 16 N Y cav m o May 26 1865 
Saranac N Y 

Crary, Loins H. — 24 5,11 Sept 30 
1861 m o May 22 1863 Redford 
NY 

Cross, Louis E. — 26 5,8 Sept 23 
x86i dis disa May 4 1862 Re- 
enl E 22 V R C May 8 1865 
died Sept 13 187 1 

Depo, Frank — 22 5,3 Sept 17 1861 
desr Sept 7 1862 died June 15 
1881 

Dow, William W. — 18 5,8 Sept 9 
1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
G 26 N Y cav corp m o July 6 
1865 died Oct 13 1896 

Downey, Lorenzo, Jr. — 18 5,9 
Sept II 1861 wd m o June 4 1863 
died Mar 18 1898 

DusTiN, Redford M. — 21 5,6 Aug 
26 1862 tr F 121 N Y ist sergt 
m o June 25 1865 died Dec 10 
1890 

Felton, John H. — 22 5,10^ Sept 
23 1861 m o May 22 1863 died 
Sept 15 1889 

Fielders, John — 40 5,10 Sept 12 

1 86 1 killed June 27 1862 
Flanders, Ira D. — 31 5,7 Aug 26 

1862 dis disa Dec 24 1862 Sara- 
nac N Y 

Fordham, Smith — 35 5,10^ Aug 27 
1862 wd tr G 121 N Y tr 166 co 
2 batt V R C m o June 17 1865 
died Aug 8 1899 

Gant, George H.— 37 5,3^ May 16 
1861 hosp steward June 30 1861 
see n c staff roster 

GouGH, James — 44 5,9 Sept 13 1861 
m o May 22 1863 dead 

GouGHER, Ansel W. — 25 5,3^ Sept 



Regimental Roster 



335 



30 1861 dis disa Dec 15 1862 
died Jan 5 1874 
Hare, Daniel — 26 5,9 Sept 23 

1861 died disa Oct 12 1862 
Hare, John T. — 33 5,6 Aug 27 

1862 dis disa Oct 22 1862 Went- 
worth S Dak 

Hare, Sidney L. — 28 5,8 Aug 25 

1862 killed Sept 14 1862 
Heath, Benjamin F. — 19 5,7^ Sept 

12 1S61 tr CO H Nov 3 1861 see 

H roster 
Heath, Samuel — 26 5,7! Sept 12 

1861 tr CO H Nov 3 1861 see H 

roster 
Hull, Wesley S. — 26 5,6 Sept 21 

1861 died wds July i 1862 P of 
W 

Irish, Millard F. — 18 5,5^ Aug 
26 1862 tr E 121 N Y dis disa Aug 
24 1864 died Mar 20 1898 

Johnson, Ira — 29 5,9 Aug 29 1862 
killed May 3 1863 

Kelley, Patrick — 35 5,1 1| Aug 18 

1862 tr B 121 N Y m o June 25 
1865 Sandy Hill N Y 

King, Oliver — 32 5,8 Aug 30 1862 
trA 121 NYmo June 25 1865 
Mooers N Y 

Lamontain, Charles — 18 5,8 Sept 
24 1861 desr Oct 2 1862 dead 

Lampard, Henry — 19 5,6^ Aug 
28 1862 tr to — 121 N Y dis disa 
June 5 1863 died June i 1873 

Lap AN, John — 19 5,9 Sept 24 
1861 dis wds Jan 12 1863 Ellen- 
burg N Y 

Larock, Peter — 20 5,1 Sept 28 

1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
H 2 N Y vet cav bugler m o Nov 
8 1865 Schuyler Falls N Y 

Leary, William — 23 5,7^ Aug 20 

1862 wd tr A 121 NY killed July 
17 1864 

Miller Joseph C. — 23 5,8 Aug 30 

1862 tr D 121 N Y April 24 1865 

dead 
Ney, Lyman T. — 19 5,7^ Sept 23 

1861 died wds July 4 1862 P 

of W 
Ostrander, Thomas A. — 36 5, 4 J 

Aug 30 1862 tr C 121 N Y tr ist 

V R C m o July 14 1865 died 

Feb 2 1902 
Pine, Smith — 32 5,7 Aug 18 1862 



wd tr A 121 N Y corp m o June 
25 1865 Keeseville N Y 

Redmond, John — 18 5,7 Aug 30 
1862 wd tr — 121 N Y Clayburg 
NY 

Rehtz, William — 39 5,7 Aug 30 
1862 tr C 121 NYmo June 25 
1865 Soldiers' Home Santa Mo- 
nica Cal 

Rock, Louis H. — 19 5,8 Aug 18 
1862 tr H 121 N Y wd tr F 18 
V R C m o June 27 1865 Sol- 
diers' Home Johnson City Tenn 

Ryan, Patrick — 27 5,9! Sept 12 

1861 dis disa Feb 20 1862 Re-enl 
I 3 Vt dis disa Feb 25 1865 dead 

Sevey, George W. — 24 5,6| Sept 
21 i86r wd m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl C 16 N Y cav m o June 
13 1865 Chateaugay Lake N Y 

Siddon, James — -18 5,7 Aug 21 

1862 tr H 121 N Y wd m o June 
25 1865 died May 22 1889 

Slaven, James — 21 5, 8 J Sept 9 

1861 dis disa Dec 9 1862 Re-enl 
G 26 N Y cav m o July 6 1865 
Paul Smiths N Y 

Smith, James R. — 39 5,11 Aug 29 

1862 tr C 121 NYmo July 25 
1865 died April 13 1880 

Smith, Melvin A. — 32 5,10 Aug 18 
1862 desr Oct 2 1862 dead 

SoPER, Herman — 27 6,6 Aug 29 
1862 wd trC 121 NYmo June 

25 1865 dead 

Stiles George C. — 20 6 Aug 28 
1862 dis disa Nov 5 1862 Platts- 
burgh N Y 

Stiles, Steadman S. — 35 S,ioJ 
Aug 30 1862 trtoC 121 NYmo 
July 25 1865 died April 26 1900 

Thomas, Seth — 24 5,7 Aug 29 1862 
killed May 3 1863 

TiBBiTTS, Lyman — 24 5, 6 J Sept 30 

1861 tr CO A Oct 20 1861 see co 
A roster 

Turner, John H. — 29 5,4 Aug 29 

1862 tr A 121 NYmo June 25 
1865 died Dec 21 1905 

Van Arnam, James H. — 29 5,6^ Aug 

26 1862 dis disa April 11 1863 
died 1900 

Washburn, Orvflle — 27 5,6^ Sept 
21 1861 dis wds Dec 27 1862 
West Chazy N Y 



33^ 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Webb, Richard O.— 31 5,5 i May 

16 1861 m o June 24 1863 died 

Jan 12 1902 
Wilcox, Joshua — 42 5, 10 J Aug 26 

1862 wd tr K 121 N Y m o June 

25 1865 died July 12 1882 
WiLLARD, Amos H. — 27 5,11 Aug 30 

1862 died disa April 8 1863 
WiNSLOW, AzRO — 25 5,8 Sept 21 

1861 died disa June i 1862 
WiNSLOW, EDO — 21 5,8^ Sept 21 

1861 m o May 22 1863 died June 

19 1883 
Average age 25y§ years 
Average height 5 feet 8 inches 



COMPANY D 
Captain 
Parker, George— 34 5,8 wd m o 
May 22 1863 died May 11 1883 

First Lieutenants 

Barney, Albert M. — 23 5,7! capt 
June 26 1862 assd to E see E 
roster 

Walling, William H. — 30 5,7 1st 
sergt 2 It Sept 20 1861 ist It June 
26 1862 m o May 22 1863 ist It 
142 N Y June 27 1863 capt Nov 
t7 1864 m o June 7 1865 major 
U S V by bvt It col U S V by bvt 
Mar 13 1865 Medal of Honor 
Fort Fisher N C Dec 25 1864 
Potsdam N Y 

Second Lieutenants 
Wilson, Robert P. — 21 5,7^ adjt 

Sept 20 186 1 see staff roster 
Morris, William H. — 22 5,5! 
sergt wd 2 It Nov 15 1862 m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl E 16 N Y 
H Art 2 It 20 N Y ind battery 
m o July 31 1865 McPherson 
Kan 

Sergeants 
HuTTON, William W. — 22 5,8^ wd 

comd 2 It not mustered died wds 

Nov 15 1862 
Whitney, Samuel M. — 20 5,9! 

corp died disa Dec 21 1861 
Gardner, Charles I. — 20 5,7! 



corp dis wds Mar 4 1863 Cape 

Vincent N Y 
Haile, Fredemck H. — 18 5,ioJ 

m o May 22 1863 capt 18 N Y 

cav m o May 31 1866 Gouv- 

erneur N Y 
Maine, Harrison C. — 18 5,9^ 

corp m o May 22 1863 Hermon 

NY 
Shaver, Andrew J. — 22 5,8^ corp 

m o May 22 1863 died Feb 11 

1865 

Corporals 
Conant, Charles H. — 21 6,2 killed 

Sept 14 1862 
Robertson, James H. — 23 5,7! 

wd died wds Oct 7 1862 
Smith, Charles M. — 20 5,10 wd 

died wds Oct 11 1862 
Quill, Daved — 19 6 m o May 22 

1863 Re-enl 20 N Y cav 2 It 

m o July 31 1865 died Jan 8 

1883 
Hilts, Theodore W. — 22 5,8 wd 

m o May 22 1863 East Tawas 

Mich 

Musicians 
Burns, James — 35 5,7! m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl lulled in service 
Parker, Thomas — 31 5, 8 J m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl H 20 N Y 

cav corp m o July 31 1865 died 

May 29 1903 

Privates 
Adams, William — 22 5,7! killed 

May 3 1863 
Ayres, Lucius J. — 30 5,7 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl D ist N Y 

L Art m o May 30 1865 died 

May 21 1893 
Babcock, George M. — 26 5,5 J 

desr Nov 19 1861 Re-enl F 86 

N Y m o June 3 1865 Norwood 

NY 
Barnes, Erwin H. — 18 5,6 died 

wds Aug 12 1862 
Burr, Solomon — 26 5,8f killed 

June 27 1862 
Clark, John C. — 21 5, 8 J wd m o 

May 22 1863 died Aug 15 looi 
Cole, Elliott — 20 5, 5 J m o May 



Regimental Roster 



337 



2 2 1863 Re-enl B ist N Y vet 

cav sergt m o July 20 1865 died 

Oct 3 1903 
CoMSTOCK, Irving — 18 s,8f dis 

disa June 14 1861 Ballard Wash 
DousEY, Richard H. — 18 5,4 desr 

June 4 1862 Re-enl 146 N Y 

killed May 5 1864 
Drown, George H. — 23 5,9! m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y 

H Art sergt m o Aug 26 1865 

died May 20 1891 
Drury, Ira W. — 32 5,7! dis disa 

Oct 17 1861 died Dec 19 1865 
Eager, John C. — 18 5,4^ m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl L 18 N Y cav 

sergt dis disa Mar 7 1865 died 

Mar 3 1 1895 
Fradenburgh, John S. — 21 5,7! 

killed Sept 14 1862 
Fradenburgh, Jason N. — 19 5,iof 

dis disa Nov 12 1862 Tidioute 

Penn. 
Fairbanks, Alden — 18 5,9! wd 

m o May 22 1863 died Mar — 

1893 
Gale, Henry R. — 20 5,9 died disa 

Dec 15 1862 
Gore, John H. — 21 5,4 desr June 

4 1862 Re-enl dead 
Grothier, Edward — 20 5,7! wd 

m o May 22 1863 Watertown 

N Y 
Hicks, William I. — 19 5,10^ tr 

from CO G Nov 4 1861 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Croswell, Mich. 
Hill, George, Jr. — 25 5,6^ wd 

m o May 22 1863 Massena, N Y 
Hill, Thomas — 24 5,64 died wds 

May 17 1863 P of W 
Hines, Heman — 18 5,7! desr May 

31 1862 dead 
Holland, Daniel — 20 5,10^ dis 

disa June 8 1861 Re-enl — 106 

N Y killed May 12 1864 
Hurelle, Francis — 23 5,8^ dis 

disa June 19 1861 Re-enl G 176 

N Y dis disa Nov 16 1863 died 

Nov I 1904 
Jenne, Charles H. — 19 5,5 J m o 

May 22 1863 Indianapolis Ind 
Johnson, D. Ward — 26 5,6i died 

disa Jan 4 1862 
Jones, David — 21 5, 6 J died wds 

Dec 20 1862 



Jones, John — 23 5,8^ died disa 

Mar 16 1862 
Lashbrook, George W. — 24 5,10 

died disa April 24 1862 
Lynde, James H. — 20 5,11^ m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y 

H Art corp regt com sergt 2 It 

Dec I 1864 wd m o Aug 26 1865 

died July 6 1885 
McClelland, Madison — 18 5,5 

died disa Aug 3 1861 
McCombs, James T. — 19 5,9 wd 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl F 18 

N Y cav ist sergt m o May 31 

1865 died Dec 1905 
Marshall, John M. — 19 5,7^ m o 

May 22 1863 died Nov 16 1866 
Mitchell, James M. — 34 5,5f- 

desr Mar 17 1862 Re-enl A 16 

N Y H Art m o Aug 2 1 1865 dead 
MouTHROP, George H. — 23 5, 10 J 

m o May 23 1863 Morrisburgh 

Can 
O'CoNNELL, Mathew — 24 5,5! dis 

disa Nov 7 1861 Mexico N Y 
Parkinson, John N. — 44 5,9 dis 

disa June 13 1861 Re-enl B 18 

N Y cav dis disa July 20 1864 

died June 11 1S99 
Perigo, Truman — 19 5,6^ desr 

Sept 7 1861 Re-enl D 94 N Y 

died — 1876 
Petties, Miles — 20 5,6J died disa 

Oct 3 1862 
Pool, Ezra J. — 28 5,10 dis disa 

June 14 1862 died Nov i 1887 
Raymond, Lewis S. — 21 5,4^ dis 

disa Mar 9 1862. died July — 

1894 
Rice, John W. — 19 5,9^ m o May 

22 1863 died Sept 21 1886 
Robinson, Henry R. — 20 5, 9 J 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl I 121 

N Y (as John H. Enslow) tr H 65 

N Y m o July 25 1865 Soldiers' 

Home, Hampton, Va 
Rogers, John W. — 19 5,7^ m o 

May 22 1S63 Re-enl E 14 N Y 

H Art corp sergt died disa in 

service Aug 24 1864 
Scott, Edwin K. — 18 6,1 died disa 

Oct 7 1862 
Shipman, Orville R. — 21 5, 5 J 

m o May 22 1863 died Mar 6 

1Q04 



33& 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Smith, B. Orlow — 21 5,5 J m o 

May 22 1863 died April — 1873 

Stone, Bradford — 29 5,9 m o May 

22 1863 Harvard, Neb. 
SwEM, Charles — 35 5,7! m o May 

22 1863 died April 3 1899 
Thayer, John P. — 44 5,7 dis disa 

Feb 20 1862 Re-enl A 10 N Y 

H A m o June 21 1865 died June 

26 1889 
Thayer, Robert — 20 5,9 dis disa 

Jan 10 1862 Re-enl A N Y H A 

died Jan 5 1902 
Thayer, William C. — 21 5,9 J desr 

Nov 19 1861 Re-enl C N Y H A 

m o Sept 5 1865 died Feb 8 1898 
Tio, Michael — 18 5,4^ m o May 

22 1863 Spring Valley Wis 
Tompkins, Ancel W. — 24 5,9 m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl H 20 N Y 

cav m o July 31 1865 Gouver- 

neur N Y 
Van Ornum, G. Myron — 22 5, 5 J 

killed Sept. 14 1862 
Whitford, Sidney A. — 30 5,iii 

dis disa April 11 1862 Re-enl H 

20 N Y cav m o July 31 1865 

died Dec 6 1888 
WiER, William H. — 19 6,3 missing 

battle of Antietam Sept 17 1862 

supposed to have been killed 
Wing, John M. — 19 5,10^ wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl killed in 

service 
WiNSLOw, J. Harvey — 26 5,7^ wd 

m o May 22 1863 Edwards N Y 
Wood, Virgil O. — 22 5,5! dis disa 

Nov 20 1861 Re-enl H 20 N Y 

cav m o July 31 1865 died Mar 

1903 



Recruits 

Sergeants 

Lee, Andrevi^ J. — 24 5,7 Oct 7 1861 

corp sergt killed Sept 14 1862 
Wilson, Robert B. — 22 5,6 May 
16 1861 corp wd m o May 22 
1863 Rochester N Y 

Corporals 
Shaver, Sanford — 32 5,9 Sept 29 
1861 dis disa Jan 19 1862 Re-enl 



H 20 N Y cav dis disa June 30 
1865 Pitcairn N Y 
Rogers, Henry — 20 5,7 Sept 30 
1 86 1 wd m o June 8 1863 Gou- 
verneur N Y 



Privates 
Blancher, Loyal H. — 24 5,8 Sept 

26 1861 m o May 22 1863 Muir 

Mich 
Brown, Thomas — 28 5,7^ June 24 

1861 tr from co G Jan 31 1862 

killed Sept 14 1862 
Brumer, Richard — 41 6 Oct i 

1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 

H 20 N Y cav wd m o July 31 

1865 died July 9 1903 
Campbell, Joseph C. — 19 5,5 Sept 

24 1861 died wds May 17 1863 

Pof W 
Clark, Samuel — 45 5,10 Sept 30 

1861 dis disa Aug i 1862 Re-enl 

H 20 N Y cav died disa in ser- 
vice Sept 27 1864 
Clark, Willi.am A. — 18 5,4 Oct 5 

1861 dis disa Mar 9 1862 Hill 

City Kan 
DiMOCK, Madison F. — 18 5,8 Oct 

5 1861 dis disa Dec 20 1861 died 

Nov 14 1885 
Downing, David E. — 18 5,6 Oct i 

1861 dis disa Aug 30 1862 Gou- 

verneur N Y 
Hicks, George W. — 23 5,10 Oct i 

1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl D 
ist NY L Art m o June 17 1865 
Moorland Mich 

Jenne, Chauncey R. — 25 5,10 
Aug 26 1862 desr April 28 1863 
Fort Wayne Ind 

Jenne, Thomas J. — 18 5,7 Aug 28 

1862 tr F 121 N Y wds dis O W D 
May 27 1863 died 1897 

Jones, Abram — 18 5,4^ Sept 23 
1861 wd m o May 23 1863 Re-enl 
G 20 N Y cav sergt m o July 31 
1865 Hildreth Neb 

Jones, William R. — 23 5,9 Sept 23 
1861 desr April 8 1862' dead 

Kennedy, Michael A. — 18 5,6 
Sept 20 1861 wd m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl D 18 N Y cav q m sergt 
m o May 31 1865 Chateaugay 
N Y 



Regimental Roster 



339 



Lamphear, Joseph W. — 21 5,5 Aug 
28 1862 tr B 121 N Y m o July 25 
1865 Benton Harbor Mich 

Leach, William — 36 5,5 Sept 30 
1 86 1 died disa Oct 5 1862 

Livingston, James R. — 18 5,5 Sept 
26 1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
H 20 N Y cav I St sergt m o July 
31 1865 died Sept 17 1901 

LOVEWELL, LOREN D. — 19 5,6 Oct 
5 1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
G 14 N Y H Art m o Aug 26 
1865 died May 2 1897 

Maxam, Luther H. — 26 5,6 Oct 
2 1861 m o May 22 1863 died 
Feb 26 1902 

McKee, James — 40 5,4 Sept 23 
1861 wdmo May 22 1863 Re-enl 
H 16 N Y H Art m o Aug 21 1865 
died 1880 

Miller, Henry J. — 18 5,7 Sept 

1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
E 18 N Y cav ist sergt m o May 
3 1 1865 Baraboo Wis 

MouTHROP, John H. — 20 5,8 Oct 
2 1861 dis disa Oct 27 1862 died 
June 9 1886 

PuLFORD, John — 26 5,8^ Aug 26 

1862 killed Sept 14 1862 

Rice, Joel C. — 21 5,10 Oct 2 1861 

died disa Nov 23 1861 
Skinner, James B. — 18 5,9 Sept 24 

1861 dis wds Oct 13 1862 died 

Feb I 1903 
Thayer, Alfred — 19 5,5 Sept 24 

1861 dis vi^ds Jan i 1863 Re-enl 

I 20 N Y cav sergt m o July 31 

1865 Decatur Ills 
Thayer, John Jr. — 27 5,6 Sept 23, 

1861 dis disa Feb 20 1862 died 

Sept 6 1866 
Thompson, Ephraim — 24 5,8 Oct 

5 1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 

E 20 N Y cav m o July 31 1865 

died Jan 18 1898 
Tompkins, Alpheus — 23 5,9 Oct 8 

1861 wd m o May 22 1863 
Valentine, John — 25 5,10 Sept 

26 1861 dis disa July i 1862 Har- 
risville N Y 

Warnock, Robert A. — 19 5,5 June 

27 1861 com sergt July 1861 see 
n c s roster 

Average age 23JY years 
Average height 5 feet 7^ inches 



COMPANY E 

Captains 

Stetson, John L. — 27 5,9 It col 
59 N Y Mar 20 1862 killed battle 
of Antietam Md Sept 17 1862 

Pierce, Ransom H. — 26 5,8^ resd 
disa June 26 1862 Sticklerville 
Mo 

Barney, Albert M. — 23 5,8^ ist 
It CO D capt June 26 1862 It col 
col 142 N Y Jan 21 1863 brig gen 
U S V by bvt Mar 13 1865 ^ o 
June 7 1865 died Aug 24 1886 

Bentley, Charles H.— 25 5,7 2 It 
ist It Mar 20 1862 wd capt Jan 

21 1863 ni o May 22 1863 capt 
2 N Y vet cav wd m o Nov 8 1865 
died Sept 3 1866 

First Lieutenants 

Dodge, Asaph — 22 5, 6 J sergt co F 
2 It June 27 1862 ist It Jan 21 
1863 m o May 22 1863 Wash- 
ington D C 

Lafontain, Peter — 35 5,11 rst 
sergt 2 It Mar 20 1862 ist It June 
27 assd to CO H see co H roster 

Second Lieutenant 
Pierce, Leonard J. — 19 5, 11 J 
sergt 2 It Jan 21 1863 rn o May 

22 1863 Sticklerville Mo 

Sergeants 

Weber, Henry W. — 19 5,8 dis wds 
Oct 21 1862 died Aug 29 1893 

Havens, Perkins — 25 5,7^ killed 
June 27 1862 

Bates, Edwin — 26 5,io§ wd killed 
May 3 1863 

Stave, George — 22 5, ii§ wd ist 
sergt m o May 22 1863 Re-enl C 
ist N Y Eng m o May 7 1865 
Plattsburgh N Y 

SoMERS, Lewis M. — 37 6,o|^ corp 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 
N Y vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 dead 

Murray, John — 22 5,1 if corp m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y 
H Art sergt m o June 25 1865 
Soldier's Home Togus Me 



340 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Corporals 

Tucker, Stephen — 41 5,9^ dis disa 
Mar 3 1863 died April 18 1892 

Prindle, Solomon — 36 5,10 m o 
May 22 1863 died Mar — 1895 

Stave, Wolford N. — 22 5,10 m o 
May 22 1863 Plattsburgh N Y 

Grant, Jacob — 40 5,6^ wd m o 
May 22 1863 died May 6 1893 

Ward, Cyrus — 28 5,10^ m o May 
22 1863 Havelock via Monte- 
video Minn 

Case, Albert — 18 5,7^ m o May 
22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav 
I St sergt m o Nov 8 1865 Platts- 
burgh N Y 

Myers, Harvey — 26 5,10^ m o May 
22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav 
m o Nov 8 1865 Morrisonville 
NY 

Musicians 
Apps, William R. — 36 5,6 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl H 64 N Y m o 

July 14 1865 Soldiers' Home 

Bath N Y 
Dawson, John — 21 5,5 m o May 

22 1863 died Feb 16 1892 

Privates 
Amore, Peter — 25 5,11 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl C 91 N Y 

Feb 28 1865 Morrisonville N Y 
Amore, Vital — 18 5,8^ m o May 22 

1863 Re-enl C 91 N Y Feb 28 

1865 Soldiers' Home Togus 

Me 
Barto, Francis — 44 5,9^ died disa 

Aug 24 1862 
Bennett, Silas W. — 18 5,5 dis disa 

June 7 I 86 I dead 
Beckwith, George W. — 18 5,5 § 

died disa Sept i 1862 
BooLiER, Michael — 18 5,9 m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y 

vet cav tr to V R C died April 

19 1896 
Brice, Andrew J. — 21 5,5 § wd 

killed May 3 1863 
Broad WELL, Andrew J. — 29 5,5^ 

dis wds Nov 22 1862 dead 
Bully, Joseph — 21 5,11^ died wds 

May 26 1863 
Champain, Frank — 18 5, 6 J dis 



disa Oct 22 1862 Re-enl H 118 

N Y dis disa April 4 1865 died 

Oct 29 1879 
Christian, James — 18 5,6^ m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y 

vet cav sergt m o Nov 8 1865 

Saranac N Y 
Cross, John F. — 22 5,6 dis disa 

Aug I 1862 Re-enl A 83 N Y 

killed May 8 1864 
Darrah, Chauncey G. — 28 5,8^ 

dis wds Nov 28 1862 Re-enl F 

95 N Y tr G 24 V R C dis disa 

May 23 1864 Schuyler Falls N Y 
Dean, Rensselaer — 26 6,2 died 

disa Nov 11 1861 
Dano, Vital — 25 5,9^ dis wds Feb 

28 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav 

m o Nov 8 1865 Soldiers' Home 

Togus Me 
DuRKEE, Henry — 41 5,6f killed 

June 27 1862 
Emery Benjamln G. — 22 5,11 

died disa Dec 20 1861 
Farley, James — 19 5,8^ killed 

June 27 1862 
Fournier, Charles — 24 5,4! m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl L 2 N Y vet 

cav m o Nov 8 1865 Lyon 

Mountain N Y 
Gregory, Andrew — 20 5,9^ died 

wds May 17 1863 
Harris, David — 26 6,1 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl A 2 Md 

dis wds Oct 10 1864 dead 
Hay, William — 19 5,11 killed June 

27 1862 
Hurley, Michael — 19 5,9! m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl A 8 Vt wd 

m o June 8 1865 dead 
King, Eladore — 24 5 m o May 22 

1863 Re-enl C 5 N Y cav m o 

July 19 1865 dead 
Labrick, Peter — 18 5,7 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl I 44 N Y 

tr C 146 N Y m o July 16 1865 

Columbus Ohio 
Ladebaucher, Alexander — 35 

5,11 mo May 22 1863 dead 
Lahey, William P. — 32 5,8^ dis 

disa June 6 1861 Re-enl K 22 

N Y m o June 19 1863 died May 

5 1887 
Lane, William M. — 32 5,9^ m o 

May 22 1863 dead 



Regimental Roster 



341 



Legoy, John — 23 5,5 desr June 12 

I 86 I dead 
Lezott, Henry C- — 31 5,7^ m o 

May 22 1863 San Bernardino Cal 
McAuLiFF, Richard — 23 5,5^ wd 

m o May 22 1863 died Nov 25 

1876 
McLane, Cornelius — 21 5,6f m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl K ist Vt 

cav m o Aug 9 1865 Brandon Vt 
Mahaney, Thomas — 25 5,7! dis 

disa June 20 1862 Saguache 

Col 
Marion, Joseph — 36 5,7^ dis wds 

Nov 17 1862 died May 16 1890 
Meyette, Peter — 27 5,iof wd 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl A ist 

Vt cav m o Aug 9 1865 Soldiers' 

Home Bath N Y 
MoFFiTT, Patrick — 18 5,9^ m o 

May 22 1863 died Sept 27 

1880 
Monty, Benjamin — 35 5,5 m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl L 83 N Y 

killed May 8 1864 
Murphy, James — 38 5,11 mo May 

22 1863 Re-enl H ist N Y Eng 

m o June 30 1865 died June 

29 1878 
Muzzey, James S. — 18 5,6 died wds 

Oct 26 1862 
Myers, Joseph — 24 5,9^ m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav 

m o Aug 23 1865 Weyaugwea 

Wis 
NoRCROSS, Benjamin R. — 36 6,oJ 

killed June 30 1862 
Orlena, Raphael — 23 5,10 tr from 

CO G Nov 3 186 1 dis disa Feb 3 

1863 Re-enl G 3 Vt wd m o July 

II 1865 died May 11 1901 
Palmer, William, Jr. — 21 5,5 wd 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 

N Y vet cav m o Sept 26 1865 

died Feb 21 1905 
Peck, William M. — 22 5,5 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl A 16 N Y 

cav tr H 3 N Y prov cav m o Sept 

21 1865 died Aug 11 1901 
Phillips, Elisha A. — 18 5,7 tr from 

CO G Nov 3 1861 m o May 22 1863 

Re-enl A 67 N Y tr A 65 N Y 

Green Bay Wis 
Poland, Antoine — 35 5,8§ m o 

May 22 1863 dead 



Putnam, Thomas B. — 22 5,9! 

tr from co G Nov 3 1861 dis wds 

Oct 21 1862 Sudley Springs 

Va 
Roberts, Joseph — 44 5,8 tr from 

CO G Nov 3 1861 m o May 22 

1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav 

m o May 8 1865 Plattsburgh 

N Y 
Roberts, Martin V. — 19 5,5 killed 

Sept 14 1862 
Rock, Willard — 19 5,6^ died disa 

Oct 5 1862 
St. Antoine, Francis — 19 5,9 

killed June 27 1862 
Stephen, Albert H. — 21 5, 6 J wd 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 

NY vet cav mo Nov 8 1865 died 

Jan 29 189 1 
Sullivan, John — 22 5,7^ m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav 

m o Nov 8 1865 died Sept 2 

1900 
Sweeney, Charles — 23 5,9 dis 

disa Aug 26 1862 Re-enl A 11 

N Y cav Oct 28 1862 died June 

10 1865 
Thompson, Henry A. — 22 5, 4 J dis 

disa Oct 31 1862 Re-enl A 16 

N Y cav dis disa Jan 12 1864 

died Feb 14 1891 
Vaughan, Elnathan J. — 21 5,11 

dis disa Aug 14 1862 Morrison- 

ville N Y 
Webb, Melancthon B. — 28 5,6J 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 

N Y vet cav died disa in service 

Aug II 1864 
Willett, McGuire — 27 5,5^ dis 

wds Mar 7 1863 Peru N Y 
Wilson, James W. — 18 5,iof dis 

wds Mar 24 1863 Re-enl as 

Albert A Wilson Ii53NYmo 

Oct 7 1865 Soldiers' Home 

Leavenworth Kan 
Wright, Rufus C. — 30 5,9^ dis 

disa Oct 16 1861 Re-enl in same 

CO Sept 15 1862 died disa Nov 6 

1862 
Young, Barnard — 18 5, 7 J dis wds 

Sept 30 1862 died Aug i 1888 
Young, Charles — 36 5, 5 J m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl M ist Vt 

H Art m o Aug 25 1865 died 

Sept 6 1875 



342 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Recruits 
Sergeants 
HiGBY, Hiram F. — 24 5, 6 J Aug 15 
1862 corp sergt wd died wds May 
51863 

Corporals 
Kavanaugh, John — 31 5, 7 J Oct 28 

1861 dis disa Feb 4 1863 died 
July 22 1896 

NoRCROSS, James S. — 31 5,11 Oct 
24 1 86 1 mo May 22 1863 Re-enl 
H 2 N Y vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 
Woods Falls N Y 

Privates 
Akey, William — 42 5,4 Aug 22 

1862 dis disa Mar 2 1863 Re-enl 
H 2 N Y vet cav dis disa Feb 18 
1864 died Aug 29 1893 

Blair, William R. — 36 5,8^ Aug 

30 1862 wd tr H 121 N Y sergt 

m o June 25 1865 died 1904 
Bradford, George W. — 18 5,7 

Sept 7 1861 dis wds Oct 22 1862 

Canaan N H 
Brice, Amzi J. — 21 5,5J Dec 16 

1861 m o May 22 1863 Soldiers' 

Home Monte Vista Col 
Brooks, William W. — 23 5,8 Sept 

17 1861 tr from co G Nov 3 1861 

dis disa Feb 20 1862 dead 
Burnham, Joseph — 23 5,7 Oct 24 

1861 killed June 27 1862 
Cartwright, Edward W. — 24 5,8 

Oct 1861 m o May 22 1863 died 

Jan 20 1901 
Chatterton, Robert — 23 5, 8 J 

Sept 8 1862 tr to H 121 N Y ist 

sergt m o June 25 1865 Clinton- 

villeN Y 
Cline, Ethan — 43 5,7 Aug 27 1862 

dis disa Dec 8 1862 died Dec 2 

1888 
Cochran, Ira A. — 44 5,10 Oct 28 

1861 m o May 22 1863 died 
Oct 30 1867 

Collins, Melvin — 37 5,8 Aug 27 

1862 tr F 121 N Y Sept 17 1863 
died July 10 1889 

Conners, Eugene — 21 5,oJMay 16 
1861 m o May 22 1863 dead 

Curtis, Governor W. — 25 5,9 Oct 
28 1861 died disa Dec 5 1861 



Defoe, Joseph — 23 5,8 Sept 27 

1861 dis disa Jan 20 1863 died 

Mar 1874 
DocKUM, Warren C. — 21 5,8 J Sept 

8 1862 wd tr H 121 N Y m o June 

25 1865 Medal of Honor April 6 

1865 Cody Neb 
Donohue, Joseph — 35 5,8 Oct 28 

1861 died wds July 4 1862 P of W 
Gaffney, Thomas — 18 5,8 Sept 30 

1861 killed June 27 1862 
Hathaway, Milo — 18 5,3 Sept 30 

1861 wd m o May 22 1863 Keese- 

ville N Y 
Hayes, James — 18 5,3 Oct 22 1861 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 

N Y vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 

dead 
Hayes, Mathew — 18 5,6 Sept 25 

186 1 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 

B 10 N Y I m o June 6 1865 

Whiting Ind 
Herron, George W. — 18 5,8 Aug 

20 1862 tr G 121 N Y m o June 

25 1865 dead 
How, Seymour N. — 19 5,10 Sept 27 

1861 wd m o May 22 1863 Fos- 
ter Can 
Labombard, John — 18 5,8 Sept 8 

1861 dis disa Aug 25 1862 died 
1863 

Lapeer, Benjamin — ^^ 5,8^ Sept 
r 1 86 1 dis disa Mar 7 1863 died 
Sept 28 1900 

Laro, Joseph — 42 5,6^ Aug 30 

1862 tr D 121 N Y m o June 25 
1865 died 1889 

Laughlin, Francis L. — 26 5,io§ 
Sept 8 1862 trE 121 N Ymo June 
25 1865 Port Kent N Y 

Lav ANTON, Samuel — 22 5,6 Feb 4 
1862 tr C 121 N Y Aug 31 1863 
dead 

Mathews, Joseph — 40 5,6^ Sept 
16 1861 ciied disa Nov 21 1861 

Miller, Lysander — 22 5,4 Sept 8 
1862 desr April 30 1863 dead 

Phillips, Philetus — 23 5,4^ Sept 
8 1862 tr B 121 N Y dis May 3 
1865 Soldiers' Home Leaven- 
worth Kan 

Sampson, Henry G. — 23 5,7^ Sept 
5 1862 tr H 121 N Y m o June 25 
1865 died Jan 29 1900 

Sharron Louis — 44 5,7^ Sept 6 



Regimental Roster 



343 



1862 dis disa Mar 9 1863 died 

June 17 1889 
Shelley, Henry — 22 5, 9 J Aug 16 

1862 wd tr D 2 U S Art m o Nov 

3 1865 Saranac Lake N Y 
Shelley, Nathan — 21 5,6 Sept i 

1862 died wds May 23 1863 
SoPER, Edmond — 33 6,1 Aug 30 

1862 trC 121 NYmo June 25 

1865 died May 11 1893 
Sweeney, Henry — 18 5,8^ Aug 27 

1862 wd tr C 121 N Y dis disa 

Oct 30 1863 Dannemora N Y 
Svvteeney, Madore — 25 5,8^ tr C 

121 NY died Pof WAug 13 1864 
Teft, Charles— 26 5,5 Aug 19 

1862 trC 121 NYmo June 25 

1865 died Mar 10 1903 
Thompson, John A. — 23 5,9 Sept 

21 1861 died wds Aug i 1862 P of 

W 
Van Arnam, Hiram H. — 24 5,8 

Aug 16 1862 tr C 121 N Y tr sig 

corps Aug 22 1863 m o June 24 

1865 Ausable Chasm N Y 
Warner, Sherman W. — 18 5,4 Ocl 

23 1861 died disa Aug 26 1862 
Whitman, Ansel F. — 45 5,6 Sept 

28 1861 desr Dec 2 1861 died 

1884 
Wright, Charles M. — 18 5,6 Sept 

15 1862 tr A 121 NY killed May 

5 1864 
Average age 26y\ years 
Average height 5 feet 8| inches 



COMPANY F 

Captains 

Gilmore, John C. — 24 5,9 wd pro 
major Sept 29 1862 see field ros- 
ter 

Sanford, Henry T. — 21 5,11 J ist 
sergt 2 It Aug 28 1861 ist It July 
18 1862 capt Sept 29 1862 m o 
May 22 1863 died July 16 1897 

First Lieutenant 

Vance, John A. — 24 5, 11 J m o 

May 22 1863 died May 2 1899 

Secotid Lieutenants 
Holbrook, Joseph — 26 5,11 died 
disa Aug 28 1861 



Helms, William R. — 23 5,10 corp 
sergt wd 2 It Oct 14 1862 m o 
May 22 1863 2 It 14 N Y H Art 
Sept 29 1863 ist It Nov 19 1863 
capt Oct 31 1864 resd disa Dec 
30 1864 Knoxboro N Y 

Sergeants 
Adams, Henry H. — 23 5,7 died 

disa Aug 30 1861 
Dodge, Asaph — 22 5,6^ 2 It June 

27 1862 see E roster 
Holliday, Bliss — 24 5,6^ corp 

dis wds Sept 18 1862 died Sept 

16 1892 
Thomas, Smith S. — 19 5,10 ist 

sergt wd m o June 7 1863 Re-enl 

L 1st N Y Engs sergt m o June 30 

1865 Southern Pines N C 
Fuller, David A. — 22 5,6 corp 

m o May 22 1863 ist It 193 N Y 

April 10 1865 m o Jan 18 1866 

died Nov 24 188 1 
Bangle, Elrick — 22 5,8 corp wd 

m o May 22 1863 Luce Minn 
Brown, Henry — 30 5,11 corp m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl C 6 N Y H 

Art sergt m o Aug 24 1865 Wad- 

dington N Y 
Farrell, Timothy — 22 5,8 corp 

wd sergt m o May 22 1863 died 

Dec 23 1888 

Corporals 
Erwin, Warner J. — 20 5,7^ died 

disa Jan 13 1862 
Cook, James — 23 6 dis wds July i 

1862 Colton N Y 
Whitney, Julius B. — 25 5,7^ dis 

wds Nov 25 1862 Water Valley 

Miss 
Love, George J. — 31 5,9 killed 

May 7 1862 
Woodward, Hiram T. — 24 6 dis 

disa Nov 24 1862 died Feb 11 

1872 
GuiNN, Allen A. — 20 5,7 m o May 

22 1863 dead 
Allen, James — 18 5,5^ m o May 

22 1863 Medal of Honor Cramp- 
ton's Pass Md Sept 14 1862 St. 

Paul Minn 
Adams, William — 22 6,0^ wd m o 

May 22 1863 Norfolk N Y 



344 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Musicians 
Crowley, John — 19 5,8J m o May 

22 1863 Augusta Wis 
Dike, John — 44 5,6i m o May 22 

1863 died Jan 14 1895 

Privates 
Abbot, Sylvester — 30 5,8 mo 

May 22 1863 Re-enl I 17 Maine 

tr U S N died Dec 28 1898 
Adams, John — 31 5,7 dis disa June 

7 1861 Re-enl K 92 N Y Jan 

20 1862 dead 
Allen, William D. — 19 5, 6 J m o 

May 22 1863 died Feb 10 1864 
Ansted, Charles W. — 18 5,6 desr 

July 9 1862 dead 
Austin, Oliver — 22 5,11 died disa 

Nov 2 1862 
Barnhart, Alexander — 23 5,7 

diswds June 18 1862 paroled P of 

W Re-enl H 13 N Y cav Feb 25 

1864 died Sept 5 1894 
Bishop, Edwin R. — 28 5,8 killed 

May 7 1862 
Brownell, George C. — 22 5,7 dis 

wds Sept 14 1862 Palmyra N Y 
Bruce, Joseph E. — 25 5,io| died 

wds May 25 1863 
Bruce, Samuel G. — 22 5, 11 J m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl D 142 N Y m 

o June 7 1865 died Aug 29 1893 
BuRDicK, James D. — 22 6 killed 

Sept 14 1862 
Butler, Loren G. — 19 5,5 died 

disa Oct 19 1861 
Butterfield, John W. — 21 5,9 m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl B 11 N Y 

cav m o Sept 30 1865 died July 

4 1905 
Cardinell, Joseph — 18 5,8 wd 

m o May 2 2 1 863 Parishville N Y 
Copeland, Edward — 19 5,6 dis 

disa July 26 1861 dead 
Grossman, Edgar — 23 5,10 dis 

disa Dec 23 1861 Re-enl A 50 

N Y Engs dis disa Nov 17 1864 

Berlin Wis 
Grossman, Edward — 20 6 died disa 

Nov 7 1861 
Cunningham, Giles N. — 22 5,5 

killed Sept 14 1862 
Day, William W. — 26 5,6^ m o 

May 22 1863 North La^^Tence 

NY 



Devlin, Isaac — 25 5,5 ^ dis disa 

Nov 7 1861 died 1862 

Dove, Henry — 22 5,9^ dis disa 

May 20 1862 Re-enl H 13 N Y 

cav m o June 30 1865 died June 

3 1899 
Ellison, Leander — 27 5,4^ m o 

May 22 1863 Hill City Kan 
Frary, David — 19 5,6 died disa 

June 8 1861 
Fulton, James M. — 34 5,10^ tr co 

A Oct 20 1 86 1 see A roster 
Gladden, Amos — 30 5,9 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl I 14 N Y H Art 

m o Aug 26 1865 died 1879 
Gladden, Loren D. — 23 5, 9 J tr 

from CO B Nov 22 1861 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl U S N 

died Mar 24 1894 
Goodcourage, William — 31 5,5 J 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 

N Y H Art m o Aug 26 1865 

died Oct 10 1887 
Griswold, Reuben B. — 20 5,8 wd 

m o May 22 1863 Leavenworth 

Kan 
Griswold, Robert B. — 25 5,9 m o 

May 22 1863 died July 6 1899 
Hammond, Hiram C. — 24 5,10 dis 

disa Feb 20 1862 Re-enl D 13 

N Y cav m o June 30 1865 Nor- 
wood N Y 
Harvey, Calvin — 26 5,7 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl M 18 N Y cav 

m o May 31 1866 died Jan 15 

1884 
Harvey, William — 21 5,11 m o 

May 22 1863 St. Regis Falls N Y 
Hodges, Nathan S. — 40 5,9 dis 

disa June 8 1861 Re-enl D 13 

N Y cav m o June 30 1865 died 

May 22 1898 
Hodges, Zimry — 18 5,5^ wd m o 

May 22 1863 Hopkinton N Y 
Hodgkins, Charles H. — 18 5,9 

wd m o July 2 1863 Potsdam 

NY 
Holbrook, Edward — 22 5,8| died 

wds May 21 1863 
HoLLiDAY, Henry — 19 5,7^ dis 

wds Feb 10 1863 Re-enl F 193 

N Y m o Jan 18 1866 Massena 

N Y 
Howard, Lyman C. — 24 5,10 m o 

May 22 1863 Massena N Y 



Regimental Roster 



345 



Ives, Charles — 21 5,6 dis disa 

May 29 1862 dead 
Kellerson, Andrew — 26 5,7^ m o 

May 22 1863 died July i 1881 
Kelly, Levi A. — 22 5,8^ wd dis 

June 27 1862 paroled P of W 

Fulton N Y 
Lalone, Joshua (Lalondi) — 24 

5, 9 J m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 

L 18 N Y cav m o May 31 1866 

died 1868 

Ploof, Peter G. — 20 5,8 killed 

May 7 1862 
Potter, Lutheman — 22 6 died wds 

July 15 1862 
Richards, Darius — 27 5,8 dis wds 

Sept 22 1862 died Oct 31 1862 
Richards, James W.— 21 5,10^ tr 

from CO B Nov 23 1861 died wds 

Sept 20 1862 
Roach, David — 36 5,7 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl died in service 

Mar 1865 
Shales, Robert J. — 27 5,9 killed 

June 27 1862 
Sharp, Joseph — 18 5,8 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y H Art 

died wds Sept 8 1864 
Shaughnessey, Daniel — 18 5,7^ 

desr Aug 18 1861 dead 
Stevens, Sidney N. — 20 5,5! m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl C 6 N Y H 

Art m o Aug 24 1865 North 

Chelmsford Mass 
Trudell, Franklin — 21 5,8 m o 

May 22 1863 died Mar 4 1869 
Wait, Martin V. B. — 26 5,7^ m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl C 57 Mass 

dis disa Dec 29 1864 South 

Colton N Y 
Washburn, Henry C. — 23 5,10 

killed Sept 14 1862 
Webb, James — 20 6 m o May 22 

1863 died April 21 1897 
Woodruff, Eland A. — 37 5,8 

killed June 30 1862 

Recruits 

Corporals 
McCuRRY Wellesley — 25 5,5^ Oct 

3 1861 killed May 3 1863 
Stone, Cyrus R. — 21 5,11^ Oct 4 

1861 corp m o May 22 1863 St. 

Paul Minn 



Privates 
Adams, Charles E. — 20 5,8 Aug 

26 1862 trtoBi2iNYmo June 

25 1865 died Mar 3 1866 
Allen, George — 43 6 Sept 2 1862 

tr 121 N Y died disa in service 

Sept 9 1864 
Austin, Oel B. — 20 5,6 Aug 30 

1862 tr C 121 N Y m o June 25 

1865 Norwood N Y 
Austin, Thomas — 28 5,7 Aug 30 

1862 tr D 121 N Y m o June 25 

1865 died Jan 22 1905 
Barnhart, Eli as — 21 5,7! Sept 

18 1861 desr May 31 1862 dead 
Benedict, Constant — 29 5,10 Feb 

5 1862 tr C 121 N Y m o Feb 7 

1865 ex of service 
Bradish, Loyal — 40 5,9 Aug 1862 

killed May 3 1863 
Brown, Samuel — 32 5,7 June 24 

1 86 1 dis disa Nov 7 1861 dead 
Buck, Jeremiah B. — 27 5, 11 J Sept 

13 1862 desr April 21 1863 dead 
Dearth, Joseph L. — 26 5,7 Sept 

10 1862 tr A 121 N Y m o June 

25 1865 died Mar 25 1882 
DiMicK, E. Newell — 18 5,5 Aug 

28 1862 tr K 121 N Y m o June 

25 1865 Butte Mont. 
DuRELLE, Enoch W. — 31 5,9 Aug 

26 1862 tr K 121 N Y m o June 
25 1865 died Dec 17 1876 

DuRKEE, Joseph C. — 36 5,11^ 
Aug 28 1862 wd trH i2iNYsergt 
m o June 25 1865 died Oct 4 1866 

Edwards, Solomon — 40 5,42 Mar 
30 1862 dis disa Aug i 1862 dead 

Erwin, Warren J. — 21 5,7 Aug 
28 1862 dis disa Feb 28 1863 Re- 
enl G 50 N Y Engs m o Sept i 
1865 died June 28 1872 

Farnsworth, Mark H. — 18 5,9 
June 24 1861 dis disa Nov 7 1861 
died Nov 24 1884 

Flanders, Otis B.— 32 5,10^ Aug 

28 1862 tr B 121 N Y m o June 25 
1865 Woodstock Ills 

FOOTE, WiLLARD P.— 26 5,7 Aug 

29 1862 tr H 121 N Y m o June 
25 1865 Fremont Neb. 

Foster, Charles— 25 5,5^ June 24 
1861 dis wds Sept 20 1862 
Winchester Va 

Garceau, Charles F. — 21 5,7^ 



346 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Mar 27 1862 dis disa May 10 

1862 dead 
Hale, Charles — 30 5,9 April i 

1862 dis disa Jan 15 1863 Re-enl 

F 14 N Y H Art dis disa June 3 

1865 dead 
Hamlin, Jehial M. — 20 5,9 Aug 

26 1862 trBi2iNYmo June 

25 1865 died July i 1902 
Helms, Henry M. — 26 5,7! July 7 

1861 wd m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 

E 14 N Y H Art sergt died disa 

Feb 25 1864 in service 
Helms, Julius J. — 28 5,9^^ July 7 

186 1 dis disa April 25 1863 Re-enl 
A 22 V R C m o Nov 17 1865 
died April 19 1881 

Johnson, Charles W. — 30 5,7 
Aug 30 1862 tr K 121 N Y m o 
Aug 24 1865 died Dec 12 1888 

Lamb, Joseph D. — 35 5,6 Aug 28 

1862 tr E 121 N Y m o June 25 
1865 Los Angeles Cal 

Love, Horace E. — 21 5,10^ Aug 
28 1862 tr D 121 N Y m o June 

25 1865 Boulder Colo 
McCloud, William B. — 18 5,5 

Aug 26 1862 desr April i 1863 dead 
McCuRRY, James H. — 32 5,9 Aug 

26 1862 trFi2iNYmo June 
25 1865 died Jan 27 1892 

Mathews, Ransom — 22 5,9 Nov. i 

1861 m o June 3 1863 earlier ser- 
vice F 4 Mass. Re-enl after m o 
16 N Y sergt 193 N Y 2 It Sept 4 
1865 I It Sept 29 1865 m o Jan. 
18 1866 Fitzgerald Ga 

Murray, Randall — 32 5,8^ Sept 
12 1861 dis disa Feb 20 1862 
Re-enl E 38 N Y tr E 97 N Y dis 
disa Jan 12 1865 died Sept 9 1894 

Norris, Joseph B. — 40 5,6 Aug 
30 1862 tr A 121 N Y dis wds 
June 12 1865 died April 27 
1884 

Olmstead, Pomeroy H. — 19 5,8 
Nov 8 1861 dis disa May 20 1862 
Re-enl U S N Kansas City Mo 

O'Neil, Michael S. — 20 5,7 Aug 
28 1862 dis disa Feb 2 1863 
Re-enl E 14 N Y H Art dis disa 
Jan 19 1864 Kankakee Ills 

Ranco, Edward — 43 5,7 Feb 5 

1862 dis disa May 10 1862 died 
Sept 6 1899 



Rust, Hiram H. — 24 5, 10 J Sept 30 

i86i dis disa May 20 1862 

Enumclaw Wash 
Saneord, Erasmus J. — 19 5,9 

June 24 186 1 wd m o May 22 

1863 Nicholville N Y 
Sayles, Ambrose E. — 18 5,11 Aug 

26 1862 tr B 121 N Y m o June 

25 1865 Potsdam N Y 
Shattuck, Willis — 19 5,6 Aug 13 

1862 tr D 121 NY captured in 

battle May 3 1863 exchanged 

Re-enl K 74 Ohio m o July 20 

1865 Winthrop N Y 
Shaw, John — 31 5,10 Aug 28 1862 

tr C 121 N Y m o June 25 1865 

Santa Paula Cal 
Stone, William N. — 26 5,8 Aug 

28 1862 dis disa Feb 28 1863 

died June 27 1865 
Sweeney, Michael — 43 5,7 Feb 

4 1862 dis disa May 10 1862 

dead 
Thornton, Marshall M. — 43 5,9^ 

Mar 16 1862 killed June 27 

1862 
Walker, Francis — 26 5, 7 J Oct 7 

1 86 1 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 

C 14 N Y H Art died disa May 

10 1864 

WiTHERELL, GeORGE R. — 21 5,IO 

Oct 28 1861 m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl B ist Vt H Art sergt m o 
Aug 25 1865 dead 
Average age 2$^^ years 
Average height 5 feet 8| inches 



COMPANY G 

Captains 

Curtis, N. Martin — 25 6,6 wd It 
col 142 N Y Oct 17 1862 col Jan 
21 1863 brig gen U S V by bvt 
Oct 28 1864 brig gen U S V Jan 
15 1865 major gen U S V by bvt 
Mar 13 1865 Medal of Honor 
Fort Fisher N C Jan 15 1865 m o 
Jan 15 1866 Ogdensburg N Y 

Best, William L. — 24 5,8 2 It ist 
It Sept 13 1862 capt Oct 2 1 1862 wd 
m o June 3 1863 ist It capt 9th 
regt V R C resd Nov 6 1863 
Ogdensburg N Y 



Regimental Roster 



347 



First Lieutenants 

Vedder, Simon C. — 21 6 resd Sept 
13 1862 capt C S U S V m o 
June 14 1865 2 It 28 U S Inft tr 
19 U S Inf ist It Mar 18 1878 
bvt ist It for Gaines's Mill Va 
June 27 1862 bvt major June 3 
1865 ret capt USA died Dec 3 
1892 

Bayne, Andrew C. — 20 5,6 sergt 
wd 2 It Sept 13 1862 1st It Oct 21 
1862 wd m o June 3 1863 ist It 
V R C July 16 1863 capt May 24 
1864 m o 1865 2 It 42 U S Inft 
July 28 1866 tr 6 U S Inft bvt capt 
for Salem Heights Va May 3 1863 
ret 2 It U S A died Oct 12 1893 

Second Lieutenant 
Austin, John H. — 26 5,5^ ist sergt 
2 it Oct 21 1862 m o May 22 1863 
Heuvelton N Y 

Sergeants 

Austin, Daniel, Jr. — 24 5,8^ corp 
dis disa May 31 1862 Seattle 
Wash 

Barney, William H. — 18 s,ii| 
corp dis disa Jan 20 1863 died 
Feb 10 1863 

Partridge, Luther L. — 23 5,8 
ist sergt wd m o June 3 1863 died 
Feb 21 188 1 

Johnson, Oilman L. — 18 5,8 corp 
m o May 22 1863 2 It 142 N Y 
June 27 1863 regt below the min- 
imum not mustered Re-enl pro 
sergt major wd ist It May 18 
1864 m o June 7 1865 Maquo- 
keta la 

Bishop, Julius C. — 28 5,10 corp 
wd m o May 22 1863 ^ed April 
2 1900 

Forsythe, George H. — 22 5,8^ 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl E 11 
N Y cav m o Sept 30 1865 

Russell, John F. — 22 5,9! pvt 
corp wd sergt wd m o May 22 1863 
La Crosse Wis 

Corporals 
WiCKwiRE, Charles — 21 5,8^ dis 
disa June 6 1863 died Jan 15 



Matoon, Vincent — 24 5,1 1| dis 
disa Sept 20 1862 Hermon N 
Y 

FiELDSON, Thomas — 18 5,10 m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl I 14 N Y 
H Art sergt ist sergt dis wds Nov 
6 1865 Gilbertsville Ky 

McKelvey, James — 23 5,9 m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl A 14 N Y 
H Art sergt ist sergt wd 2 it Oct 
17 1864 resd Mar 18 1865 Juni- 
ata Neb 

Bostwick, Emerson — 18 5,10 wd 
m o May 22 1863 Hammond 
NY 

Elliott, George B. — 20 5,10 
wd corp wd m o May 22 1863 
Farmer Tex 

Privates 
Backus, David — 19 5,7^ m o May 

22 1863 Mapleton N Dak 
Ballentine, Hugh — 18 5,io| dis 

disa June 21 1861 Re-enl C 106 

N Y corp m o May 17 1865 

Janesville la 
Banford, David — 19 5, 8 J m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl B 11 N Y 

cav died disa Aug 5 1864 
Barker, John L. — 18 5,11 m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl M 6 N Y 

H Art dis disa June 12 1865 

died Sept 24 1883 
Barton, Lewis — 23 5,8 desr June 

2 1 86 1 Re-enl C 7 Vt— Feb 24 

1866 Hartford Conn 
Baxter, Samuel — 20 5,10 m o 

May 22 1863 died Oct 1902 
Benson, Amos H. — 18 5,7 m o May 

22 1863 Minneapolis Minn. 
Betts, Edwin O. — 23 5,10 m o 

May 23 1863 died May 4 1890 
Blood, Charles S. — 19 5,2 muse 

reduced on own application wd 

m o June 5 1863 Re-enl E 14 

N Y H Art corp sergt ist sergt 

m o June 17 1865 died April 29 

1890 
Breyan, Louis — 20 15,2 dis disa 

June 18 r86i dead 
Brown George — 18 5,6^ dis Dec 

29 1 86 1 wd accidentally by com- 
rade Hammond N Y 
Burnham, Rollin — 20 6 dis disa 

June 21 186 1 Re-enl C 106 NY 



348 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



sergt m o June 22 1865 Storm 

Lake la 
Curtis, Thomas W. — 22 5,7 dis 

wds Jan 20 1863 died Feb 20 

1864 
Dean, Amos H. — 19 6,2 dis disa 

June 25 1861 Re-enI in same 

CO Oct 21 1 86 1 dis wds Sept 30 

1862 Lawrenceville N Y 
Delack, John — 21 5,9 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl A 14 N Y H Art 

sergt wd m o Aug 26 1865 Mor- 

ristown N Y 
Dempsey, Robert — 22 5,10 m o 

May 22 1863 died Sept 25 1887 
Earl, George — 20 6 dis disa Mar 

4 1862 died Aug 24 1862 
Fleetham, George H. — 18 5,6^ 

dis wds Dec 17 1862 Depey- 

ster N Y 
Gardiner, Charles H. — 21 5,4^ 

died disa Sept 7 1861 
GooDisoN Benjamin — 18 5,4 dis 

disa Oct 2 1861 Re-enl A 14 

N Y H Art dis wds May 12 1865 

Downing Wis 
Goodison, John — 24 5,6^ dis disa 

Dec 31 1862 Re-enl A 14 N Y 

H Art dis disa Aug 26 1865 died 

Mar 8 1905 
Gore, William E. — 18 5,9 dis wds 

Oct 30 1862 Richville N Y 
Grenier, Celistier — 18 5,8^ killed 

Sept 14 1862 
Hackett, John — 33 5,6^ m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl H 16 N Y cav 

tr L 3 N Y Prov cav m o Sept 21 

1865 died June 30 190 1 
Healey, James — 19 5,5^ dis disa 

Feb 4 1863 Canton N Y 
Hicks, William I. — 19 5, 10 J tr co 

D Nov 3 1 86 1 see D roster 
Hulett, Edwin H. — 19 5,9 dis disa 

Nov I 1 86 1 died July 22 1888 
Hyde, Abel, Jr. — 21 5,8^ m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl B 18 N Y cav 

died in service Sept 29 1864 
JiLLSON, Charles B. — 20 5, 4 J 
muse reduced on own applica- 
tion m o May 22 1863 Napa Cal 
Kelley, Robert — 26 5,9 dis disa 
Sept 23 1861 Re-enl C 106 N Y 
sergt dis disa Oct 23 1863 Re-enl 
D 185 N Y sergt m o May 30 1865 
died May 26 1867 



Kennedy, Andrew — 19 6,3 i wd 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl G 13 
N Y cav corp tr B 3 N Y cav m o 
Sept 21 1865 Soldiers' Home 
Columbia Falls Mon 

King, George W. — 18 5,10^ dis 
disa June 21 1861 Re-enl U S N 
dis disa Re-enl D 49 Wis dis 
disa Oct 17 1865 Soldiers' Home 
Santa Monica Cal 

Laro, Francis — 22 5,5 m o May 22 
1863 Re-enl C 9 Vt dis disa Dec 
13 1864 dead 

LiscoM, Rodolphus — 18 5,3^ m o 
May 22 1863 died May 18 1886 

McDaniel, John — 26 5,6 dis wds 
Feb 19 1863 dead 

Mayne, William — 18 5,11 wd m o 
May 22 1863 Heuvelton N Y 

Merrell, James — 18 5,8 died disa 
Nov 3 1862 

Mills, Henry — 18 5,8^ m o May 
22 1863 Re-enl A 14 N Y H Art 
dis wds June 19 1865 died Feb 
2 1896 

Murphy, James — 28 6,1 dis disa 
Jan 20 1863 Gouverneur N Y 

O'Connor, John — 21 5,4 wd m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl A 14 N Y 
H Art sergt wd m o Aug 26 1865 
Soldiers' Home Orting Wash 

Orlena, Raphael — 23 5,io| tr 
CO E Nov 3 1861 see E roster 

Parker, James — 22 5,8^ dis wds 
Sept 20 1862 died Jan 10 1864 

Parsons, Joseph — 21 5,6^ killed 
June 27 1862 

Patno (Patneaxide), Adolphus — 
22 5,iii dis disa Oct 16 1861 
Re-enl K 96 N Y m o May 30 
1865 died April 26 1880 

Perrin, Louis — 19 5,8 dis wds Aug 
10 1862 Re-enl A 16 N Y cav 
bugler tr H 3 N Y Prov cav m o 
Sept 21 1865 died Oct i 1870 

Phillips, Elisha A. — 18 5,7 tr co 
E Nov 3 1 86 1 See E roster 

Pierce, Charles — 18 5,7 died wds 
May 10 1863 

Putnam, Thomas B. — 21 5,9! tr 

CO E Nov 3 1 86 1 See E roster 
Raven, Henry J. — 19 s,g^ died 

disa Mar 20 1862 
Roberts, Joseph — 44 5,8 tr co E 
Nov 3 1861 See E roster 



Regimental Roster 



349 



Russell, David C. J. — 21 5,7 tr 
from CO I April i 1862 m o May 

22 1863 Chicago Ills 
Stephens, Theodore — 18 5,6 m o 

May 22 1863 Los Angeles Cal 
TiMMONS, John — 26 5,5 dis disa 

Aug 19 1862 died July 28 1889 
Turner, Denny — 18 5,8 dis disa 

Sept 26 1862 Osmond Neb 
Wallace, William — 22 5,7 dis disa 

Dec 29 1861 Jefferson Ohio 
Wardell, Samuel — 19 5,9 dis disa 

Mar 21 1862 Re-enl A 14 N Y 

H Art corp dis wds June 23 1865 

died Nov 29 1897 
Washburn, James H. — 24 5,10! 

m o May 22 1863 died Aug — 

1876 
Waymouth, Wm. Freeman — 18 5,5 

killed May 7 1862 
Western, Joseph W. — 21 5, 10 J m o 

May 22 1863 died May 5 1897 
WoNLESs, George W. — 21 5,6 

killed June 27 1862 

Recruits 

Corporals 

Ellsworth, Edwin T. — 21 9§ 

May 16 1861 killed June 27 1862 

Galloway, William K. — 21 6,i 

Aug 15 1862 tr E 121 N Y m o 

June 25 1865 Eau Claire Wis 

Privates 

Adams, Anthony B. — 18 5,5 Oct 11 
1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
A 14 N Y H Art wd m o Aug 26 
1865 Weatherby Mo 

Austin, William H. — 18 5,9 Aug 

23 1862 died wds G H Washing- 
ton Sept 1863 

Bell, William H. — 18 5,5^ Oct 16 

1861 dis wds Aug 10 1862 died 

May I 1905 
Benson, Valentine — 18 5,5^ Oct 

7 1861 wd m o Oct 7 1863 

Straight Penn 
Brooks, William W. — 23 5,8 Sept 

23 1861 tr CO E Nov 3 1861 see 

E roster 
Brown, Thomas — 28 5,8^ June 24 

1861 tr CO D Jan 31 1862 see D 

roster 



Cassady, John — 21 5,9 Oct 24 
186 1 died disa May i 1862 

Chaffee, James E. — 22 5,7 Oct i 
1861 dis disa Feb i 1863 died 
Jan II 1898 

Chilton, Thomas B. — 18 5,7^ Oct 
19 1861 dis wds Aug 4 1862 
Re-enl D 12 V R C dis disa Nov 
2 1863 Hermon N Y 

Chilton, William A. — 19 5,7^ Oct 
19 186 1 m o May 23 1863 died 
Aug 20 1867 

Coffin, Nelson, Jr. — 18 5,7 Oct 24 
1861 wd m o May 22 1863 Sol- 
diers' Home Johnson City Tenn 

Dart, Daniel — 32 5,9 Aug 15 1862 
tr B 121 N Y m o June 25 1865 
Fine N Y 

Dart, Maynard H. — 21 5,11 Oct 

24 186 1 dis disa Dec 28 1862 
Montreal Canada 

Dean, William M. — 21 5,11 Oct 21 

1861 dis disa May 14 1862 
Re-enl E 124 N Y corp m o May 
26 1865 De Grasse N Y 

Ellsworth, Edmond A. — 22 5,6 
May 16 186 r killed June 27 1862 

Fetterly, Edward — 42 5,6 Sept 
22 1862 tr I 121 N Y wd m o June 

25 1865 died June 3 1883 
Fieldson, William — 20 5,11 J Oct 

14 1861 wd m o May 22 1863 
died Mar 17 1903 

Fisher, Nathaniel — 21 6,3 Oct 

24 1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
B II N Y cav m o Sept 30 1865 
died 1905 

Galloway, George D. — 20 5,9 
July 27 1861 m o May 22 1863 
died Feb 21 1864 

Green, James, Jr. — 20 5,11 Oct 

15 1861 died disa Nov i 1862 
Grenier, Edmond — 18 5,7 Aug 23 

1862 tr E 121 N Y died wds Oct 

25 1864 

Haile, Alonzo — 19 5,7 Oct 19 1861 
wd m o May 22 1863 died Feb 
10 1885 

Heath, Francis P. — 31 6 Oct 19 
1 86 1 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
D 16 Iowa m o July 9 1865 Rolla 
Mo 

Hill, Charles H. — 21 5,7 Oct 19 
1861 dis disa Mar i 1862 Chi- 
cago Ills 



350 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Hyde, Freeman — 23 5,9 May 19 
1 86 1 died disa Feb 6 1863 

Kanoff, Jacob O. — 22 5,10 Aug i 
1861 dis disa Feb 12 1862 Re-enl 
U S N A 29 Ohio inft m o June 
5 1865 Soldiers' Home Grand 
Island Neb 

Lewis, Solomon — 21 5,7! Oct 19 
1861 desr Oct 19 1862 reported 
under President's proclamation 
m o June 12 1865 Soldier's 
Home Marshalltown la 

Matoon, James — 43 5,9! Oct 19 
1861 died disa July 2 1862 

Matoon, John — 19 5,9! Oct 19 
1861 killed May 3 1863 

Merritt, Ansel W. — ^^ 5,8 Oct 
19 1861 dis disa Jan 12 1863 
died Feb 17 1899 

MtTMMERY, Francis — 21 5,6^ Oct 
9 1861 killed May 7 1862 

Poor, Charles — 21 5,6 Oct 24 
1861 dis disa May 27 1862 Rens- 
selaer Falls N Y 

Raven, George P. — 21 5,8^ Oct 
21 1861 mo May 22 1863 Re- 
enl B 193 N Y dis disa Aug i 
1865 Kamloops British Colum- 
bia 

Read, L. Jones — 30 5,9^ Oct 19 
1861 m o May 22 1863 died Oct 
28 1902 

Robinson, Francis — 24 5, 7 J Oct 
21 1861 dis disa May 31 1862 
Re-enl K 14 N Y H Art m o Aug 
26 1865 died 1890 

RouLSTON, David — 21 5,9 Oct 24 
1861 died disa Mar 29 1863 

Russell, Daniel E. — 26 5,7 Oct 
26 1861 died disa Aug 4 1862 

Seabtxry, Caleb M. — 25 5,10^ 
Oct 24 1861 killed May 7 1862 

Sempier, James — 23 5,8 Oct 21 
1861 wd m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
A 14 N Y H Art tr to co L ist 
sergt died June 20 1864 of wds 
received June 17 1864 

Tate, Alexander — 27 5,8 June 11 
1861 tr to CO I Apr i 1862 see 
I roster 

Thompson, John R. — 18 5,10 May 
16 1861 died wds Mar 13 1863 

Walker, Robert — 22 5,11 Oct 26 
i86r died disa Nov 23 1862 

Wells, Oliver — 24 5,7^ Sept 13 



1861 dis wds Nov 19 1862 died 
May 15 1899 

Average age 21^^ years 
Average height 5 feet 8| inches 

COMPANY H 

Captains 
Gibson, Warren — 42 5,6 resd wds 

Oct 14 1862 died Jan 18 1887 
Hopkins, Wilson — 26 5,6 ist It B 

capt Oct 14 1862 m o May 22 1863 

Bloomer Wis 

First Lieutenants 

Barnard, Alanson M. — 31 5,11 
killed June 27 1862 

Lafontaine, Peter — 35 5,11 ist 
sergt E 2 It Mar 20 1862 ist It H 
June 27 1862 resd disa Oct 7 

1862 died Aug 4 1902 

Second Lieutenants 
Tucker, Archibald S. — 33 5,10 

resd disa June 27 1861 died 

June 29 1904 
Webster, Samuel W. — 39 5,4 pvt 

2 It June 20 1 86 1 resd disa Feb 

22 1862 died Aug 12 1900 

Sergeants 

Nowland, William — 25 5,10^ 
killed Sept 14 1862 

Clark, Francis V. — 27 5,8 dis disa 
Sept 8 1861 Bridgeport Conn 

Coon, Roswell B. — 20 5,8 corp 
sergt died wds June 10 1863 

Ellmore, Oren W. — 36 5,4^^ m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl A 14 N Y 
H Art m o Aug 26 1865 died 
June 2 1883 

Hamilton, James M. — 23 5,10 corp 
sergt m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
M 6 N Y H Art died Jan 30 1864 
on account of injuries received on 
a military train and in line of duty 

LE\^^s, David J.— 23 5,9! pvt corp 
m o May 22 1863 died Oct 19 
1866 

Breckenridge, James F. — 22 5,11 
pvt corp m o May 22 1863 Re- 
enl 35 ind bat N Y L Art tr to 
A 16 N Y H Art m o Aug 30 
1865 Poughkeepsie N Y 



Regimental Roster 



351 



Corporals 
GtTRLEY, James — 21 5,8| died wds 

July 15 1862 
McAllister, David — t,-^ 5,10 died 

disa Sept 29 1862 
Page, Percival P.— 18 5, 10 J killed 

May 3 1863 
DuRKEE, Harris R. — 20 6,1 wd 

m o May 22 1863 Waupon Wis 
Osgood, Leroy B. — 21 5,10 wd 

m o May 22 1863 Oakland Cal 
Walston, Rufus — 21 5,10 wd m o 

May 22 1863 died April 4 1899 

Musicians 

Marsh, Joel M.— 18 5,5 died disa 
Feb 4 1862 

Salls, Daniel — 24 5,5 dis disa Aug 
7 1862 Re-enl M 6 N Y H Art 
died Jan 30 1864 on account of 
injuries received on a military 
train and in line of duty 

Sumner, Clark H. — 21 5,5 m o 
May 22 1863 died Aug 17 1898 

Privates 
Adams, Lorenzo — 19 s,8§ dis wds 

Nov 22 1863 died 1870 

Bedell, Earl — 36 5,9! dis disa 

Jan 10 1862 died May 12 1862 
Bell, John — 26 5,8 killed June 27 

1862 
Berry, Charles H. — 19 5,4 dis 

wds Nov 22 1862 Re-enl F 25 

Wis m o June 13 1865 La 

Crosse Wis 
Bradley, Chester A. — 20 5,10 

dis writ H C June 24 1861 

Re-enl D 7 Vt m o Mar 14 1866 

dead 
Brinning, John — 38 5,10 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl M 6 N Y H Art 

m o Aug 24 1864 died Mar 2 

1866 
Brown, George M. — 27 5,7 dis 

disa June 6 1861 Re-enl unassd 

13 N Y cav died disa Oct 26 1864 
Bush, Joseph — 21 5,6| dis disa 

June 17 1861 Re-enl I 14 N Y 

H Art corp died disa May 18 

1864 
Collins, Daniel — 19 5,8 m o May 

22 1863 Lohrville la 
Converse, Jeremiah F. — 27 5,10 



wd m o May 22 1863 Woodlawn 
Ore 

Coon, Jotham A. — 23 5,5^ dis disa 
Jan 24 1862 Re-enl U S N Win- 
throp N Y 

Cooper, Orville — 21 5,4 killed 
Sept 14 1862 

Corbin, Cassius R. — 25 5,7 wd 
m o May 22 1863 Stockholm 
Centre N Y 

Cruikshank Hugh, Jr. — 23 5,9 dis 
disa June 6 1861 Olympia Wash 

Daniels, Martin W. — 27 5,11 
died disa June 10 1861 

Downey, Robert S. — 23 5,4 killed 
June 27 1862 

Edwards, George — 45 5,9 dis disa 
June 6 1861 Re-enl F 92 N Y 
dis disa Nov 20 1862 died Dec 
26 1876 

Eldridge, Oren — 21 5,9 mo May 
22 1863 Brasher Falls N Y 

Finch, William H. — 20 5,4 m o 
May 22 1863 North Tonawanda 
N Y 

Gatfney, Barnhard — 20 5,6| dis 
disa June 17 1861 died 1902 

Graves, Ira R. — 21 5,5 m o May 
22 1863 died 1890 

Hammond, William — 18 6 killed 
Sept 14 1862 

Hayes, James — 27 5,6 m o May 22 
1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y H Art 
m o June 17 1865 paroled P of W 
dead 

Haywood, Eben A. — 19 5,11 died 
disa Sept 23 186 1 

HuRLBURT, Darwin A. — 18 5,6 dis 
wds Feb 10 1863 Re-enl L 1st 
N Y L Art m o Aug i 1865 died 
Mar 1903 

Irish, Cortes D. — 21 5,7^ dis disa 
Nov 3 1862 Brookdale N Y 

Kimberly, Alexander D. — 27 5,6 
ist sergt dropped Oct 15 1862 
comd 2 It Dec 9 1862 not mus- 
tered rejoined co May 12 1863 
from hospital m o May 22 1863 
as pvt Soldiers' Home Mil- 
waukee Wis 

Lacourse, Jacob — 22 5,7 dis disa 
June 14 1861 Re-enl E 92 N Y 
tr to 96 N Y m o Mar 4 1865 
dead 

Lauber, Nelson — 18 5,7^ m o 



352 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



May 2 2 1863 Re-enl U S N 

Fort Jackson N Y 
Lock, Andrew J —23 5,9^ dis 

disa June 14 1861 Re-enl in 

same co Oct 21 1861 m o May 22 

1863 Re-enl M 6 N Y H Art 

m o June 6 1865 died July 16 

1903 
McEwEN, Nelson — 23 5,7 dis disa 

May 24 1862 Oakland Cal 
Maginn, Laughlin F. — 21 5,5 wd 

m o May 22 1863 died Mar 23 

1891 
Merrill, Willis — 19 5,9 dis disa 

Jan 9 1863 West Stockholm 

NY 
Miller, Cornelius — 26 5,4 m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl A 92 N Y 

tr to G 96 N Y m o Feb 6 1866 

Massena N Y 
Norton, William W. — 18 5,1 1^ 

wd m o May 23 1863 Saginaw 

Mich 
Pearce, James — 22 5,7 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl G 14 N Y H Art 

m o May 8 1865 Stark N Y 
Pelsue, Newell C. — 23 5,6 m o 

May 22 1863 North Stockholm 

N Y 
Reed, Stephen L. — 24 5,115 dis 

disa June 17 1861 Re-enl in 

same co Sept 12 died disa July 

17 1862 
Reynolds, James — 25 5,5 dis disa 

June 6 1861 Re-enl E 92 N Y 

dis disa Oct i 1862 dead 
Richards, Hiram S. — 25 5,9 died 

disa Nov 18 1861 
RocKWOOD, Levi — 39 5,8 dis disa 

June 6 1861 Re-enl F 92 N Y 

dis disa July 23 1862 died Oct 

20 1903 
Ross, Roswell, Jr. — 18 5,6 dis 

wds Aug 4 1862 Soldiers' Home 

Danville Ills 
RuNiONS, John — 22 5,4 died disa 

Dec 10 1861 
Russell, Isaac A. — 24 5,7 died 

disa Nov 19 1861 
Sartwell, Levi — 26 5,4^ dis wds 

Oct 25 1862 died June 12 1876 
Sharp, Henry — 18 s,4^ dis wds 

Sept 25 1862 Stafford N Y 
Smith, George E. — 22 5,6 died 

disa Aug i 1862 



Spears, Charles D. — 24 5,6 wd 

m o May 22 1863 died July 20 

1862 
Stores, Henry D. — 18 5,6 killed 

May 3 1863 
Strong, George W. — 18 5,6 killed 

May 3 1863 
Thayer, Moses A. — 21 5,7 dis 

wds Nov 10 1862 died Oct 6 

1875 

Trussell, Nelson L. — 21 5,5 m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl A 14 N Y 
H Art sergt wd 2 It Mar i 1865 
comd ist It April 29 1865 (not 
mustered) m o Aug 26 1865 
Rensselaerville N Y 

Wilkins, Ephraim — 21 5,6 m o 
May 23 1863 Re-enl M 13 N Y 
cav m o June 30 1865 died Sept 
7 1887 

Wilkins, George L. — 18 5,6 dis 
wds Dec 13 1862 Re-enl B 14 
N Y H Art corp m o July 10 1865 
P of W died Oct i 1875 

Wilkins, Riley E. — 24 5,4 m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y 
H Art m o Aug 10 1865 North 
Stockhohn N Y 

Wolcott, Willard J. — 21 5,4 wd 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 
N Y H Art m o Aug 10 1865 
died Mar 3 1888. 

Wright, George A. — 18 5, 9 J m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl A 14 N Y 
H Art corp dis wds Feb 9 1865 
died Mar 20 1896 



Recruits 

First Lieutenant 

CozzENS, Nelson Z. — 23 5,11 enl 

Oct 7 1862 sergt ist It Dec 18 

1862 to rank Oct 7 1862 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Callahan Colo 

Second Lieutenants 
Hamilton, Frank H. — 23 5,7 appt 
Mar 20 1862 resd disa Sept 13 

1862 died 1869 

Brown, Charles A. — 19 5,7 enl in 
CO I Sept 5 1 861 sergt 2 It assd 
to H Sept 13 1862 m o May 22 

1863 died April 2 1891 



Regimental Roster 



353 



Sergeant 
Englehart, Francis A. — 42 5,11 
enl June 24 1861 sergt same day 
dis wds Nov 18 1862 died 1905 

Corporal 
Moses, Joel F. — 36 5,4^ enl Oct 
14 1861 wd m o May 22 1863 
died June 17 1896 

Privates 

Allen, Cyrus N. — 18 5,8^ Sept 
12 1 86 1 dis disa Mar 3 1863 
Re-enl A 14 N Y H Art Sept 24 
1863 dead 

Arnold, Alvin — 38 6,1^ Mar 29 
1862 dis disa April 4 1863 died 
Nov 9 1894 

BiGELOW, Isaac A. — 39 5,7^ Sept 
12 1 86 1 dis disa Dec 8 1862 
Re-enl G 14 N Y H Art q m 
sergt dis disa July 8 1865 died 
June — 1889 

Blotchley Lorenzo P. — 24 5,11 
Sept 17 1862 desr Mar 7 1863 
dead 

Carpenter, Winfield S. — 21 5,7 
Sept 22 1862 desr Mar 27 1863 
was a desr from A 60 N Y to 
which he returned dead 

Crocker, Jedidiah — 44 5,4 Aug 29 
1862 tr to F 121 N Y died Nov 

24 1864 PofW 

Donivan, Andrew — 19 5,11 Aug 
29 1862 wd tr to K 121 N Y Mar 

25 1865 died Nov 2 1881 
DouD, Bailey — 32 5,4 Oct 9 1861 

dis disa Nov 8 1862 died May 

22 1868 
FoLSOM, FIenry C. — 27 5,7^ Oct 

8 1 861 dis wds Nov 22 1862 

Foxboro Mass 
Gilchrist, James — 19 5,5^ June 

24 1861 killed June 27 1862 
Haggerty, Edward — 20 5,ioJ 

Mar 28 1862 died disa July 21 

1862 
Heath, Benjamin F. — 19 5,7^ 

Sept 12 1 86 1 tr from co C Nov 

3 1861 dis wds April 7 1863 

died Dec 17 1902 
Heath, Samuel — 26 5,7! Sept 12 

1861 tr from co C Nov 3 1861 



m o May 22 1863 died Sept 9 

1884 
HoiT, Uriah — 21 5,6 Oct 21 1861 

dis Sept I 1862 acdly wd Re-enl 

A 17 Vt ist sergt m o July 14 

1865 dead 
Hutchinson, Cyrus B. — 34 6,1 

Aug 24 1862 tr to A 121 N Y dis 

wds Sept 25 1864 dead 
Kennen, Henry — 20 5,6 June 13 

1861 wd m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
I 3 Mass H Art m o Sept 26 1865 
Norfolk N Y 

King, Adolphus — 28 5,3 Mar 3 

1862 tr C 121 N Y m o Mar 3 
1865 ex of service died Dec 5 
1901 

Lewis, Rufus E. — 18 5,10 Aug 29 

1862 died disa Dec 6 1862 
Maginn, John W. — 22 5,5^ Oct 10 

1 86 1 killed Sept 14 1862 
Merrill, William H. — 22 6 Sept 

5 1862 dis disa Dec 2 1862 Re-enl 
M 6 N Y H Art ist sergt m o 
July 21 1865 

Mills, Alexander — 22 5,11 Aug 
20 1862 wd tr to A 121 N Y dis 
disa Feb 16 1864 died Sept 20 

1895 
Murray, Horace H. — 19 5,9 Aug 

20 1862 wd tr to H 121 N Y killed 
May 10 1864 

Murray, Orman — 36 5,8 Sept 2 

1862 wd killed May 3 1863 
Nicholson, Peter — 27 5,8 Sept 

10 1862 tr to A 121 N Y m o 

June 25 1865 Chewelah Wash 

Nowland, Thomas — 24 5,7^ Oct 

21 1861 died disa Dec 29 1861 
O'Brien, John — 21 5,7^ Jan 31 

1862 tr to C 121 N Y m o Feb i 
1865 ex of service dead 
Page, Lorenzo — 18 5,7 Oct 21 
1861 m o May 1863 Re-enl K 

6 N Y H Art m o June 26 1865 
West Stockholm N Y 

Ryan, John — 28 5,8 Nov 19 1861 

desr Aug 24 1862 dead 
Salls, Samuel F. — 19 5,6 Oct 12 

1861 dis disa Aug 7 1862 Re-enl 
band 3 brig 2 div 20 army corps 
m o June 12 1865 died April 10 
1904 

Shufelt, Edwin — 18 5,4 Sept 3 

1862 tr to F 121 N Y tr to B 22 



354 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



V R C m o July 3 1865 Canton 

S Dak 
Simons, Daniel — 18 5,4 June 12 

1861 desr July i 1861 dead 
Smith, Marshall W. — 19 5,11 

Aug 29 1862 dis disa April 26 

1863 dead 
Webster, Luman W. — 18 5,6 Oct 

21 1861 dis disa Mar 3 1863 

died Dec 29 1888 
WiLKiNS, William H. — 18 5,8 

Sept 5 1862 dis wds May 23 1863 

Ogdensburg N Y 
Average age 24^^ years 
Average height 5 feet 7^ inches 



COMPANY I 

Captains 
Seaver, Joel J. — 38 5,10 major 

Nov II 1861 see field roster 
Van Ness, Peter L. — 42 5,9 ist 

It CO A capt Nov 11 1861 resd 

disa Dec 6 1862 Re-enl 13 N Y 

cav died Aug 16 1891 
HiLLiKER, Charles M. — 22 5,7 

sergt I St sergt 2 It Nov 19 1861 

capt Dec 6 1862 m o May 22 

1863 Kankakee Ills 

First Lieutenant 
Wead, Frederick F. — 25 5,7 It 
col 98 N Y Aug 9 1862 col Mar 
4 1864 killed June 3 1864 Cold 
Harbor Va 

Second Lieutenants 
Roberts, Milton E. — 22 5,6 resd 

Nov 19 1861 Re-enl H ist N Y 

Engs sergt m o Feb 21 1865 

Chateaugay N Y 
Hinman, Enos — 25 5,10 sergt 2 It 

Dec 6 1862 m o May 22 1863 

Malone N Y 

Sergeants 
Moore, E. Allen — 21 5,9^ ist sergt 

dis disa June 12 1861 Re-enl 

dead 
Bennett, Zebulon — 31 5,6^ dis 

disa Sept 6 1861 Re-enl H ist 

N Y Engs corp m o Feb 4 1865 

died Oct 7 1872 
Mannix, Timothy B. — 21 5,6 m o 



May 22 1863 Re-enl A 2 Mass 

Art m o June 2 1865 Helmsville 

Mont 
Smith Swift B. — 21 5,7^ m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl G 2 Conn 

H Art corp sergt ist sergt m o 

Aug iS 1865 died Sept i 1899 
Murray, Willi.am J. — 25 5,5! 

corp wd m o May 22 1863 died 

1866 
Fletcher, George — 21 5,9 J corp 

m o May 22 1863 Lake Odessa 

Mich 

Corporals 
Bryant, Alexander P. — 21 5,6^ 

dis disa Nov 7 1861 died Oct 6 

1886 
Reiley, Martin — 21 5,5^ dis wds 

Feb 24 1863 Re-enl e" 14 N Y 

H Art ist sergt July 30 1865 

died Jan — 1886 
Lord, William A. H. — 20 5,6f wd 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl C 14 

N Y H Art corp m o Aug 26 1865 

Malone N Y 
Hatch, Silas W — 20 5,5 m o May 

23 1863 died Sept 21 1872 
Ellis, Henry H. — 21 5,5 wd m o 

Nov 3 1863 to date May 22 1863 

Ticonderoga N Y 

Musicians 
Grant, Arthur M. — 21 5,7^ tr to 

K 18 N Y June 24 1861 sergt 2 It 

June 27 1862 m o May 28 1863 

Los Angeles Cal 
Boston, Daniel William — 32 5,5^ 

fife major May i 1862 see n c s 

roster 

Privates 
Amidon, Marshall — 2>3 5)5 J ni o 

May 22 1863 Northfield Vt 
Archambeaut, Albert — 21 5,4^ 

desr July 19 1861 dead 
Baker, Hiram — 32 5,7$ m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl F 18 N Y cav 

m o May 31 1866 died Mar 12 

1899 
Barber, William W. — 28 5,9^ 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H 47 

N Y m o Aug 30 1865 died Mar 

7 1902 
Barnum, Albert — 21 5, 10 J died 

disa Oct 8 1861 



Regimental Roster 



355 



Bassett, Asa — 18 5,8 killed May 3 

1863 
Bassett, Sylvanus — 21 5, 7 J m o 

wd May 22 1863 Re-enl B 193 

N Y dis disa Sep 14 1865 died 

Dec 30 1882 
Beeman, William — 29 5,10 died 

disa Jan 24 1862 
Bennett, Andrew — 23 5, 7 J m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl F 16 Wis 

corp m o July 12 1865 died Feb 

4 1904 

BiGELOW, Douglas C. — 21 5,4^ 
killed May 3 1863 

Bradford, Alfred — 21 5,5^ dis 
disa July 28 1862 dead 

Bradford, Robert — 25 5,6^ dis 
disa June 4 1862 died April 
1870 

Bugbee, Charles W. — 25 5,7 wd 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H 13 
N Y cav tr to co L ist sergt tr 
to C 3 N Y Prov cav m o Sept 21 
1865 Taloga Okla 

BuLLis, Ezra S. — 21 5,7 m o May 
22 1863 Re-enl 5 U S cav sergt- 
major m o Sept 15 1869 Cleve- 
land Ohio 

Callahan, Martin — 20 5,7^ m o 
May 22 1863 died Jan 14 
1888 

Carpenter, Frederick — 19 5,6^ 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl K 7 
N Y H Art m o June 28 1865 
Orleans Neb 

Clifford, Richard — 22 5,6J dis 
disa May 28 1862 Re-enl in same 
CO Aug 30 1862 tr to I 121 N Y 
May 4 1864 Re-enl B 5 Md m o 
Sept I 1865 New Bedford Mass 

Coats, George — 19 5,6 m o May 
22 1863 dead 

Coyne, James — 18 5,6^ wd m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl H 5 Vt dis 
wds Jan 5 1865 New York City 
N Y 

Downs, Peter — 22 5,7 died disa 
Mar 23 1862 

Ellis, Norman — 25 5,5 died disa 
Feb I 1862 

Enwright, John — 19 5,6i m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl U S N 
dead 

Everest, Byron E. — 18 5,3! m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl H 63 N Y 



corp m o as supernumerary on 

consolidation with 97 N Y Re- 
enl B 193 N Y m o Jan 18 1866 

Malone N Y 
Folsom, Luther — 18 5,8^ killed 

June 27 1862 
Fuller, Sidney — 23 5,8^ dis disa 

June 18 1862 dead 
Gonier, Isaac — 21 5,6^ m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl L 18 N Y cav 

m o May 31 1866 died Feb i 

1901 
Gravell, Edward — 24 5,7^ killed 

June 27 1862 
Greeno, Charles L. — 21 5,2! m o 

May 22 1863 dead 
Griffin, Alvin — 20 5,8^ dis disa 

Oct I 1861 died July 4 1862 
Harrica, Jasper — 24 5,6^ died 

disa Dec 30 1861 
Hatch, James B. — 28 5,2^ m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl I 13 N Y cav tr 

to E 3 N Y Prov cav m o Sept 21 

1865 died Oct 3 1892 
HiLLiARD, Miner — 18 5 7! wd 

tr Dec 15 1862 to L 2 U S cav 

m o Jan 5 1868 died Nov 13 

1902 
HowLETT, Thomas — 20 5,8 dis 

writ H C June 13 1861 dead 
Hubbard, Ozro N. — 18 5,6f wd 

m o July 7 1863 died Mar 10 

1872 
Hugaboom, Cornelius — 22 5,6^ 

wd m o June 9 1863 Clarks- 
burg Cal 
Huntley, Myron — 21 5,9 dis disa 

June 15 1 86 1 Chateaugay Lake 

NY 
Kelley, Amaziah — 21 5,5| wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-eni C 91 N Y 

died wds April 28 1865 
Lalime, Eusebe — 21 5,7! wd 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl H 98 

N Y sergt m o Aug 31 1865 died 

July 4 1900 
Lee, Willis — 19 5,6^ wd m o May 

22 1863 died May 4 1865 
McDonald, William H. — 21 5, 7 J 

dis disa Aug 6 1861 dead 
McKeon, Thomas — 23 5,9^ dis 

disa Sept 5 1861 Re-enl C 98 

N Y killed 7une 3 1864 
Owens, Chauncey — 19 5,5^ m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl C 14 N Y 



3S6 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



H Art corp died disa June 25 

1864 P of W 
Parks, Albert — 21 5,6J dis disa 

Mar 9 1862 St. Regis Falls N 

Y 
Robinson, John — 21 5,6| m o May 

22 1863 died June 26 1892 
Rollins, Samuel M. — 21 5,6f dis 

disa Jan 30 1863 Fairchild 

Wis 
RoYCE, Oscar S. R. — 21 5,9! died 

disa Oct 4 1861 
Russell, David C. J. — 21 5,7 tr 

from K 18 N Y June 24 1861 tr 

to CO G April I 1862 see G roster 

Chicago Ills 
Sancomb, Julius — 18 5,8^ dis disa 

Mar 9 1862 Re-enl E 98 N Y 

m o Aug 31 1865 died Aug — 

Sinclair, Albert M. — 23 5,5! m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl C 9 Vt 

died disa Jan 11 1864 
Slatterly, John — 23 5,6^ killed 

June 27 1862 
Smith, George W. — 23 5,3! dis 

disa Mar 9 1862 dead 
Stafford, John H. — 21 5,8 tr to 

CO A June 17 1861 see A roster 
Stewart, Amherst T. — 36 s,8J 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl M 18 

N Y cav m o May 31 1866 died 

May 29 1902 
Sullivan, Thomas — 22 5,9^ wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl E 14 N Y 

H Art sergt m o Aug 26 1865 

died Mar 16 1901 
Sylvester, Wallace W. — 19 5, si 

killed June 27 1862 
Trefren, Neil — 21 5,6 dis disa 

Mar 14 1863 Re-enl B ist Vt 

H Art m o June 24 1865 New 

Lisbon Wis 
Weyms, David — 34 5,7^ dis Nov 11 

1861 Re-enl in Art dead 
Whitehouse Thomas S. — 23 5,8f 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl G 13 

N Y cav tr to K 24 regt V R C 

BloomviUe Wis 
Whitton, Woodbury — 21 5,9^ dis 

disa Mar 10 1862 Re-enl ist 

N Y ind battery m o May 30 1865 

died April 6 1895 
Wing, John — 18 5,5! m o May 22 
1863 died May 30 1864 



Recruits 
First LietUenant 
Gleason, Samuel W. — 35 5,8| 
enl Sept 27 1861 ist It Aug 9 1862 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl E 60 
N Y m o June 23 1865 died Nov 
17 1905 

Sergeants 
Brown, Charles A. — 18 5,7 Sept 

5 1861 2 It Sept 13 1862 see H 

roster 
Cunningham, Russell J. — 23 5,8^ 

June 24 1861 sergt ist sergt wd 

m o May 22 1863 Chasm Falls, 

NY 

Corporals 
Whitehouse, John C. — 21 5,6 

June 24 1861 killed June 27 1862 
Powell, Horatio C. — ^7, 5,2 Oct 5 

1861 dis disa July 18 1862 died 

Oct 15 1884 
Berry, Wilmot J. — 21 5,6^ Sept 

20 1861 trtoFi2iNYmo Oct 

5 1863 ex of service died Nov 3 

1903 
Reynolds, Joseph H. — 25 5,5^ 

Sept 23 1861 trtoB 121 NYmo 

June 25 1865 died Nov 14 1865 
FiSK, Darius N. — 24 6 Oct 4 1861 

tr to C 121 N Y m o Oct 5 1863 

ex of service died Dec 9 1868 

Privates 

Babcock, John — 25 5,5 Oct i 1861 
dis disa Nov i 1862 Crown Point 
NY 

Beaty, Jasper A. — 25 5,11 Aug 
30 1862 tr to G 121 NYmo June 
25 1865 US N died May 31 1905 

Beemis, Jonathan — 26 5,6| Sept 
28 1861 dis disa Jan 28 1863 
Malone N Y 

Beemis, Simon E. — 21 5,6^ Sept 28 
1861 tr to F 121 NYmo Sept 20 
1863 ex of service died Dec 22 
1896 

Bracy, John — 27 5,9 Sept 6 1862 
dis disa Feb 28 1863 Manches- 
ter N H 

Carr, Henry — 18 5,6 Sept 23 1862 
wd tr to I 121 NYmo Oct 5 



Regimental Roster 



357 



1863 ex of service Re-enl G 14 
N Y H Art corp sergt m o Aug 26 
1865 died June 17 1904 

Carr, John S. — 22 5,7 Sept 23 
1861 died wds July 20 1863 

Clark, William — 22 5,7! Sept 30 
1861 dis disa May 29 1862 Re-enl 
B 10 Vt corp m o June 22 1865 
died July 12 1879 

Conger, Ambrose A. — 21 5,5^ Oct 
4 1861 dis disa July 15 1863 dead 

CoTA Alexander — 18 5,7 Oct 4 
1 86 1 died disa Mar 3 1862 

Denio, Charles — 20 5,5 Sept 25 
1861 wd tr to C 121 N Y tr 1042 
CO ist bat V R C m o Sept 29 1863 
ex of service Constable N Y 

Edgerly, David — 24 5,6 Sept 27 
1861 tr to F 121 N;Y m o Oct 5 
1863 ex of service Re-enl 6 N Y 
ind battery m o July 8 1865 
Stephenson Mich 

Farneff, Joseph — 18 5,7 Sept 16 
1861 dis disa May 19 1863 died 
Mar 4 1899 

FcTLHAM, James — 40 5,6 Sept 20 

1861 tr to F 121 N Y m o Oct 5 
1863 ex of service Re-enl U S N 
dead 

Garen, Michael — 22 5,6 Aug 30 

1862 desr April 29 1863 dead 
Graves, Myron — 22 6 Aug 27 

1 86 1 dis disa Nov 3 1862 Lake- 
view Cal 

Gregory, William E. — 18 5,8^ 
June 24 1861 dis disa July 22 

1862 Soldiers' Home Danville 
Ills 

Harrica, Patrick — 18 5,6 Sept 20 
1861 dis disa Nov 28 1861 Cha- 
teaugay N Y 

Hoag, Thomas — 21 5,6^ Sept 30 
1861 dis disa Mar 8 1862 Re-enl 
G 118 N Y m o June 13 1865 
died Aug 25 1902 

Howell, Abram — 21 5,7! Sept 23 
1861 tr to I 121 N Y dis disa July 
23 1863 died 1866 

Hubbard, George W. — 30 5,8 
Aug 30 1862 tr to I 121 N Y dis 
June 25 1865 par P of W Tus- 
tin Cal 

Huntington, Cornelius — 18 5,6 
Sept 27 186 1 dis wds Nov 22 1862 
Re-enl H 13 N Y cav sergt tr to 



F 3 N Y Prov cav m o Sept 21 

1865 died Aug 23 1893 
Jones, Royal— 20 5,8 Aug 30 1862 

tr to I 121 N Y m o June 25 1865 

died Aug i 1902 
Kelley, John — 18 5,8^ Sept 16 

1861 tr to F 121 N Y m o Sept 22 
1863 ex of service Rutland 
Centre Vt. 

Laughlin, James — 21 5,7 Aug 30 

1862 wd tr to K 121 N Y dis wds 
Mar 3 1865 Malone N Y 

Loukes, Erasmus — 19 6 Aug 21 

1862 desr May 12 1863 Free- 
land Mich 
LtTTHER, Ransom C. — 19 5,10 Aug 

27 1862 trtoIi2iNYmo June 

25 1865 Madison Wis 
Lynch, James — 18 5,8^ June 24 

1 86 1 dis disa Feb 5 1863 died 

Feb 14 1863 
McGuire, Patrick — 24 5,9^ Aug 

30 1862 desr April 29 1863 Malone 

NY 
McMillan, Daniel T. — 18 5,5 Aug 

27 1 86 1 killed May 3 1863 
Neddo, Joseph — 28 5,5 Sept 26 

1861 dis wds Nov 3 1862 Malone 

N Y 
Newstead, William C. — 26 5,5^ 

Sept 28 1861 wd tr to F 121 NY 

m o Oct 5 1863 ex of service died 

Feb 20 1896 
Ormsby, Thomas — 29 5,9^ June 17 

1861 desr Sept 24 1862 dead 
Phillips, Bentley S. — 18 5,4^ 

Sept 23 1861 m o May 22 1863 
Phelps Minn 
Pilling, Abram P. — 18 5,7 Aug 23 

1862 trtoIi2iNYmo June 
25 1865 died Dec 5 1885 

Rogers, Levi C. — 22 5,6^ Sept 28 

1861 wd dropped Oct 14 1862 
died 1878 

Rosa, Charles W. — 28 5,10 Aug 30 

1862 captured May 3 1863 tr to 
121 N Y after exchange Re-enl 
23 N Y ind battery tr to L 8 N Y 
H Art m o June 23 1865 died 
Aug 9 1889 

Sallinger, William — 21 5,10 Aug 
30 1862 trtoBi2iNYmo June 
25 1865 died June 11 1901 

Sancomb, Louis — 23 5,8 Oct 4 1861 
wd tr to I 121 N Y m o Oct 13 



358 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



1863 ex of service Chateaugay 
NY 

Shields, Timothy — 23 5,9^ Sept 
23 1861 dis wds Nov 22 1862 
Re-enl F 16 Wis corp sergt m o 
July 12 1865 Enid Okla 

Smith, Darwin E. — 44 5,7^ Sept 
25 1861 dis disa Mar 8 1863 
died Mar 18 1895 

Tate, Alexander — 27 5,8 June 11 
1861 tr from co G April i 1862 wd 
m o May 22 1863 Re-enl G 13 
N Y cav Mar 16 1864 dead 

Tracy, Hugh — 38 5,7^ Sept 28 
1861 dis disa Feb 20 1862 dead 

Van Horn, Fredus C. — 24 5,5^ 
June 17 1861 m o May 22 1863 
Soldiers' Home Noroton Conn 

Whitton, Joseph — 44 5, 8 J Oct 4 
1861 dis disa Mar 9 1862 died 
1894 

Average age 22^!^ years 

Average height 5 feet 7 inches 



COMPANY K 

Captain 
Wood, William W. — 33 5,10^ m o 
— to date May 22 1863 died 
Oct 31 1905 

First Lieutenants 
McFadden, John — 34 5,10 died 

wds Aug 8 1862 
Jamison, Willlam H. — 38 5,9 sergt 

wd ist It Aug 8 1862 m o May 

22 1863 Lima Ohio 

Second Lieutenant 

Carlton, Henry J. — 22 5,10 m o 

May 22 1863 West Chazy N Y 

Sergeants 
.Slosson, Julius M. — 19 5,8^ dis 

disa April 30 1862 died Dec 9 

1886 
Cannon, Samuel — 26 5,10^ wd 

m o May 22 1863 died Jan 20 

Dodge, Rufus S. — 20 5,5 m o May 

22 1863 Sparta Wis 
Jones, Benjamin F. — 23 5,8| wd 

m o May 22 1863 dead 



Nichols, William A. — 25 5,8 corp 
wd sergt wd m o May 22 1863 
West Chazy N Y 

Grant, Charles — 23 5, 10 J m o 
May 1863 Re-enl sergt A 13 
N Y cav ist It m o June 23 1865 
Soldiers' Home Roseburg Ore 

Corporals 
Ketchum, Franklin S. — 20 5,6 

sergt-major Oct 16 1861 see 

n c s roster 
Cook, Martin — 23 5,9 died wds 

July 4 1862 
Langfield, Edgar — 24 5,9^ killed 

June 27 1862 
Hay, Wesley — 22 5,9! killed June 

27 1862 
Neville, James — 21 5,7 m o May 

22 1863 Re-enl died Sept 26 

1899 
Rogers, Martin N. — 23 5,6^ wd 

m o May 22 1863 died April 30 

1900 
Decker, Nathan — 19 6 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl B ist N Y 

L Art m o June 18 1865 East 

Middlebury Vt 
Sharp, John — 32 5,6^ m o May 22 

1863 Re-enl G 26 N Y cav corp 

m o July 6 1865 Grand Rapids 

Mich 

WiTHERELL, SaNFORD L. 20 5,IO 

wd m o May 23 1863 West Chazy 
N Y 
Coo NAN, John — 19 5,7 wd m o 
May 23 1863 dead 

Musicians 
Eels, John — 26 5,8 dis disa May 
16 1861 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav 
m o Nov 8 1865 Peru N Y 

WiTHERELL, HARVEY — 4 1 5,9! dis 

disa June 6 1861 Re-enl D 96 
N Y dis disa Jan 19 1862 died 
Nov 5 1887 
Steele, Mervin E. — 22 5,8 died 
disa June 3 1862 

Privates 
Aldridge, Phillip — 32 5,10 dis 
disa Oct 2 1861 Re-enl B 96 
N Y dis disa Oct 2 1862 Re-enl 



Regimental Roster 



359 



i6 N Y cav unassd Jan i 1864 

dead 
Baldwin, George M. — 18 5,5^ dis 

disa Sept 13 1861 died Mar 29 

1894 
Barnaby, Samuel — 31 5,8^ dis disa 

June 7 1861 died Sept 13 1869 
Beardsley, Leslie W. — 20 5,4^ 

dis wds Jan 30 1863 Re-enl H 2 

N Y vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 R F 

D Plattsburgh N Y 
Bellard, William — 19 5,10^ desr 

June 4 1 861 dead 
Bromley, Martin — 18 5,8| wd 

m o May 22 1863 died May 5 

1901 
Bruso, Akin — 37 5,9 m o May 22 

1863 died Oct 17 1868 
Bugbee, Claudius — 23 5,8 dis disa 

June 14 1 86 1 Soldiers' Home 

Bath N Y 
Carpenter, Erastus L. — 28 5,7^ 

m o May 22 1863 Peru N Y 
Dechene, Henry — 18 5,6^ killed 

June 27 1862 
Doty, Joseph Y. — 44 5,6^ m o 

May 22 1863 Re-enl C 118 NY 

tr to G 96 N Y m o Feb 6 1866 

died Dec 28 1882 
Farrington, Justin — 19 5,7 dis 

disa May 16 1861 dead 
Fitzpatrick, Michael — 18 5,10 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl U S N 

died Mar 18 1887 
Gonyea, Joseph — 19 5,7 wd m o 

May 22 1863 Miami Fla 
Gonyea, Samuel A. — 21 5,5^ wd 

m o May 22 1863 Re-enl A 46 

N Y m o June 3 1865 Platts- 
burgh, N Y 
Green, William N. — 23 5,4 m 

o May 22 1863 died April 3 
1901 
Guynup, William J. — 38 5,9^ dis 
disa June 5 1861 Re-enl in same 
CO Aug I 1862 died disa Nov 17 
1862 
Hayes, Oren E. — 19 5,9! dis disa 
Jan 29 1863 Re-enl H 96 N Y 
corp m o Feb 6 1866 died Aug 
II 1898 
Hewitt, Gideon R. — 32 5,7^ wd 

m o May 22 1863 dead 
Joy, William T. — 39 5,7 dis wds 
Jan 28 1863 Re-enl L ist N Y 



Engs m o June 30 1865 died 
April 7 1877 
Laplant, William H. — 18 5,7^ m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl H ist Mo 
cav tr to 7 Mo cav m o Sept i 
1865 Hot Springs S Dak 
Lapoint, Gilbert — 23 5,6J wd m o 

May 22 1863 Sciota N Y 
Martin, George — 21 5,8^ died 

disa Aug 10 1862 
Mayo, Henry — 19 5,8^ wd m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y 
vet cav Nov 24 1864 died Dec 
10 1898 
Merritt, Edward — 28 5,10 dis 
disa May 20 1862 died July 20 
1870 
Monty, Melvin — 18 5,8 wd m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y 
vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 died 
Dec 17 1900 
Morris, Moses — 21 5,10 dis wds 
May 15 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y 
vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 died 
May 31 1882 
Moss, Edgar — 18 5,8f dis wds 

Nov 22 1862 Oshkosh Wis 

Mott, James — 21 5,10^ m o May 

22 1863 Ellenburgh Depot N Y 

Myette, Stephen — 38 5,9 dis disa 

Jan 7 1863 Re-enl H 153 N Y 

m o June 3 1865 Ellenburgh 

Depot N Y 

Noakes, Martin — 37 5,ioJ died 

disa Oct 24 1862 
Potter, John — 18 5,6 m o May 22 
1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav 
m o Nov 8 1865 died Aug 27 
1884 
Pyke, Ambrose — 18 5,11^ dis disa 
Oct 16 1861 Re-enl A 16 N Y 
cav tr to H 3 N Y Prov cav m o 
Sept 21 1865 Adams Mass 
Record, Julius — 18 6 wd m o May 

22 1863 Chazy N Y 
Remo, Lewis — 18 5,6 wd m o June 

4 1863 Rutland Vt 
Rennell, Lewis E. — 19 5,8| died 

disa Dec i 1862 
Rennell, Martin V. — 22 5,7* dis 
disa May 16 1861 Re-enl D ist 
Vt m o June 21 1865 died Dec 
7 1902 
Richards, William S. — 26 5,5 
died disa June 5 1861 



360 



Bull Run to Chancellorsville 



Richardson, Sidney L. — 20 5,8 
died disa Dec i 1862 

RiCHEY, Robert — 21 5,7 dis disa 
May 16 1 86 1 Re-enl in same 
CO Sept 30 1861 m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav m o Nov 
8 1865 dead 

RiCHEY, William — 22 5,11 dis disa 
May 16 1 86 1 Re-enl in same co 
Sept 30 1861 m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav m o Nov 
8 1865 dead 

RoDDEN, Joseph B. — 21 5,8^ m o 
May 23 1863 Re-enl K 153 N Y 
m o Oct 2 1865 Mooers N Y 

RoDDEN, William — 24 5,4 died 
wds Sept 14 1862 

Rogers, Jasper — 32 5,4^ died disa 
Feb 26 1862 

Sartwell, Moses H. — 40 5,9 m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl D 192 N Y 
m o Aug 28 1865 died May 27 
1891 

Stafford, Philetus — 18 5,7 killed 
June 27 1862 

Stafford, Seth — 23 5,8^ m o May 
22 1863 Re-enl H 2 N Y vet 
cav m o Nov 8 1865 Ellenburgh 
Centre N Y 

Stewart, Alexander — 44 6,3^ dis 
disa May 16 1861 dead 

Stewart, Andrew — 30 5,1 1| dis 
disa Oct 2 1861 Re-enl C 91 
N Y died disa July 8 1865 in ser- 
vice 

Stone, Francis — 40 5,5 dis wds Jan 
I 1863 died Sept 16 1889 

Vincent, David — 44 5,9^ dis disa 
Mar 18 1863 died Mar 17 1882 

Welch, Melvin — 20 5,8 dis disa 
Oct 7 1 861 Re-enl Lynn Mass 

Williams, James W. — 18 5,4 m o 
May 22 1863 Re-enl I 26 N Y 
cav m o July 3 1865 died May 5 
1901 

Wolf, William W. — 24 5,6 m o 
May 22 1863 Motley Minn 



Recruits 
Corporals 
Watson, Robert — 43 5,7 May 16 
1861 dis wds Mar 9 1863 died 
April II 1895 



Peters, William — 24 5,6 July 26 
1861 wd m o May 23 1863 Ellen- 
burgh N Y 

Nichols, John W. — 18 5,7 May 16 
1861 wd m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
H 2 N Y vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 
Lyndeboro N H 

Musicians 
Albers, Albert — 22 5,8 June 7 

1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
K 91 N Y m o June 10 1865 died 
Jan 8 1902 

Privates 
Barnaby, Thomas — 27 5,4 Aug 29 

1862 trtoA 121 NYmo June 
25 1865 West Chazy N Y 

Bruso, October — 18 5,5^ Aug 30 
1862 tr to A 121 N Y wd m o 
June 25 1865 Plattsburgh N Y 

Burdick, William W. — 31 5,9 Nov 
I 1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
I 96 N Y captured Oct 27 1864 
died PofW 

BuRDOW, Joseph — 21 5,4 Aug 30 
1862 killed May 3 1863 

Clough, Albert H. — 21 5,5^ May 
16 1861 dis disa Oct 2 1861 
Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav died disa 
July 24 1864 

Cox, William — 36 5, 11 J Dec 9 
1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
B 118 N Y killed May 16 1864 

Crawford, Wallace W. — 19 5,3^ 
Feb 14 1862 dis wds July 15 1S62 
Re-enl B 15 Mass tr to E 20 Mass 
m o April 28 1865 Elmhurst Cal 

Demars, John — 18 5,3 Sept 18 

1 86 1 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
H 2 N Y vet cav Dec 3 1863 
dead 

DuPREE, Louis — 21 5,6| Aug 29 

1862 tr to A 121 NYmo June 
25 1865 East Beekmantown N Y 

Evelith, Asa — 28 5,10 Sept 20 
1 86 1 died disa Nov 26 1861 

Green, George W. — 18 5,6 Oct 
19 1861 dis disa Nov 27 1862 
Re-enl C 9 Vt m o June 13 1865 
died April 3 1005 

Green, Robert N. — 21 5,6^ Oct 19 
1861 died disa Jan 27 1862 

Hammond, Stephen — 22 5,7 Nov 



Regimental Roster 



361 



7 1861 wd m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl H 2 N Y vet cav m o Nov 

8 1865 died May i 1872 
Hay, Wellington — 24 5,10 Sept 

25 1861 dis wds Aug 22 1862 
Re-enl B 5 N Y cav m o July 19 

1865 Mooers Forks N Y 
HiNDES, Horace H. — 18 6 Nov i 

1861 dis disa July 15 1862 dead 

HOUGHTALLING, ANDREW A. — 23 
5,8 June 25 1861 died wds Sept 
18 1862 

JORDANAis, Alfred — 18 5,7 Sept 
30 1861 m o May 22 1863 Re-enl 
I ist N Y Engs m o July 3 1865 
died Aug 4 1897 

Kelley, Wllliam N. — 30 5,5 Aug 
22 1862 trtoCi2iNYmo June 
25 1865 died April 2 1905 

Ketchum, Hiram H. — 18 5,9 Sept 
30 1861 dis disa Sept 10 1862 
Re-enl I ist N Y Engs m o May 
30 1865 2 It 13 U S inft Feb 23 

1866 ist It 22 U S inft July 31 

1867 capt by bvt Feb 27 1890 
ret major aug 11 1898 died Aug 
12 1898 

Laduke, Mitchell — 30 5,9 May 
16 1861 wd m o May 22 1863 
dead 

Laport, Julius — 44 5,9 May 16 

1861 dis disa Oct 16 1861 Re-enl 
B 92 N Y died Mar 7 1895 

LooMis, Horace — 22 5,9^ Aug i 

1862 dropped Oct 16 1862 died 
Mar 25 1863 

Manning, William H. — 27 5,5 
Aug 20 1862 tr to A 121 N Y sergt 
m o June 25 1865 Swanton Vt 

Martino, Joseph — 19 5,9 Aug 11 
1862 tr to K 121 N Y m o June 
25 1865 Pittsfield Mass 

Mayo, Fabian — 23 5,7 Oct 22 1861 
killed June 27 1862 

Merritt, Henry — 24 5,11 May 
16 1861 wd m o May 22 1863 
Re-enl E 96 N Y prin musi m o 



June 18 1865 Soldiers' Home 
Dayton Ohio 

Mock, George F.— 18 5,4 Sept 23 
1861 dropped Oct 15 1862 Re-enl 
M ist U S cav July 30 1865 died 
Nov 25 1895 

MussEY, Samuel — 44 5,5 Nov 1 
1861 dis disa May 22 1862 died 
Sept I 1886 

NoRCROss, Franklin — 18 5,7 Sept 
14 1861 dis wds Jan 25 186^ 
Re-enl H 83 N Y tr to G 97 
N Y captured Aug 19 1864 in 
parole camp at m o of regt dead 

Ploof, Louis— 18 5,3! Sept 14 
1861 dropped Oct 15 1862 Re-enl 
F 57 Mass Mar 29 1864 Ellen- 
burgh Depot N Y 

RiCHEY, Joseph, Jr.— 18 5,8 Sept 
30 1861 m o May 22 1861 Re-enl 
H 2 N Y vet cav m o Nov 8 1865 
died Mar 13 1886 

Roberts, Lucius B.— 25 5,5 Sept 
17 1 86 1 died disa Feb 2 1862 

Starkey, William — 18 5,3 Sept 14 
1861 killed June 27 1862 

Starkey, Willis L — 18 5,6 Sept 
14 1861 dis wds Feb 12 1863 
Fairfield la 

Steele, Edgar W. — 18 5,7 Oct 22 
1861 tr to 3 N Y tr to 30th co 2 
bat V R C m o Oct 24 1864 
Mooers Forks N Y 

Watson, James H. — 21 5,10 Aug 
20 1862 tr to A 121 N Y m o June 
25 1865 Saranac Lake N Y 

Weightman, Edwin — 18 5,7 May 
16 1861 killed May 3 1863 

White, James — 19 5,3 Sept 16 1861 
m o May 22 1863 dead 

Average age 24^*^ years 

Average height 5 feet 7I inches 

Average Age and Height of the 
Sixteenth Regiment 
Age 25 years. Height 5 feet 7I 
inches 



APPENDIX A 

A Nominal List of Casualties in the Sixteenth New York 
Infantry during its term of service. 



In the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. 

Wounded and recovered i 
Company B (i), First Lieutenant Wilson Hopkins. 

In the Battle of West Point, May 7, 1862 
Killed 6 

Company F (3), Corporal George J. Love, Privates Edwin R. 
Bishop, Peter G. Ploof; Company G (3), Privates Francis Mum- 
mery, Caleb M. Seabury, William Freeman Waymouth. 

Wounded and discharged 7 

Company F (4), Corporal James Cook, Privates Alexander 
Barnhart, George C. Brownell, A. Levi Kelly; Company G 
(3), Privates Thomas B. Chilton, Louis Perrin, Oliver Wells. 

Wounded and recovered 4 

Company F (i). Private Henry M. Helms; Company G (3), 
Captain Newton Martin Curtis, Privates Emerson Bostwick, 
William E. Gore. 



Appendix 363 

In the Battle of Gaines's Mill, June 27, 1862 
Killed 41 

Company A (i), Private James Fallon; Company B (6), Cor- 
poral Simon E. Johnson, Privates Joseph B. Chase, Francis 
Grennon, Adolphus McComber, Eliakim H. Sprague, Charles 
Worden; Company C (5), Corporal Thomas Clark, Privates 
Robert Collins, John Fielders, John McCafferty, Thomas Myers; 
Company D (i), Private Solomon Burr; Company E (7), Ser- 
geant Perkins Havens, Privates Joseph Burnham, Henry Durkee, 
James Farley, Thomas Gaffney, William Hay, Francis St. An- 
toine; Company F (2), Privates Robert Shales, Marshall Thorn- 
ton; Company G (4), Corporal Edwin T. Ellsworth, Privates 
Edmond A. Ellsworth, Joseph Parsons, George W. Wonless; 
Company H (4), First Lieutenant Alanson M. Barnard, Privates 
John Bell, Robert S. Downey, James Gilchrist; Company I (5), 
Corporal John C. Whitehouse, Privates Luther Folsom, Edward 
Gravell, John Slatterly, Wallace W. Sylvester; Company K 
(6), Corporals Edgar Langfield, Wesley Hay, Privates Henry 
Dechene, Fabian Mayo, Philetus Stafford, William Starkey. 

Mortally wounded 17 

Field (i), Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Marsh; Company B (2), 
Privates James A. Andrews, Adin Colon; Company C (4), Pri- 
vates William H. Dominy, Wesley S. Hull, Lyman T. Ney, William 
Townsend; Company D (i). Private Erwin H. Barnes; Com- 
pany E (3), Privates Joseph Donohue, James S. Muzzey, John A. 
Thompson; Company F (2), Privates Luther N. Potter, James 
W. Richards; Company G (i). Private John R. Thompson; 
Company H (i). Corporal James Gurley; Company K (2), First 
Lieutenant John McFadden, Corporal Martin Cook. 

Wounded and discharged 58 

Field (i). Colonel Joseph Howland; Company A (4), Corporal 
George H. Godden, Privates Samuel McBroom, Henry Merry, 



364 Appendix 

John Mitchell; Company B (7), Corporal James E. Baird, Pri- 
vates Alpheus Cary, Miles F. Church, Harvey Clufif, Alexander 
McPhee, John F. Parker, Joseph Perry; Company C (7), Cor- 
porals John Ford, Robert T. Lucas, Privates Camile Bushaw, 
John Lapan, Elijah G. Vogan, Orville Washburn, Marion F. 
Williams; Company D (i), Private James B. Skinner; Company E 
(10), Sergeant Henry W. Weber, Privates George W. Bradford, 
Andrew J. Broadwell, Vital Dano, Chauncey G. Darrah, Joseph 
Marion, Thomas B. Putnam, McGuire Willett, James W. Wilson, 
Barnard Young; Company F (2), Sergeant Bliss Halladay, Cor- 
poral Julius B. Whitney; Company G (6), Privates William H, 
Bell, Amos H. Dean, George H. Fleetham, William E. Gore, 
John McDaniel, James Parker; Company H (9), Captain Warren 
Gibson, Privates Lorenzo Adams, Charles H. Berry, Henry C. 
Folsom, Darwin A. Hurlburt, Roswell Ross, Levi Sartwell, Henry 
Sharp, Moses A. Taylor; Company I (4), Corporal Martin Reiley, 
Privates Cornelius Huntington, Joseph Neddo, Timothy Shields; 
Company K (7), Privates Leslie W. Beardsley, Wellington Hay, 
William T. Joy, Moses Morris, Edgar Moss, Franklin Norcross, 
Francis Stone. 

Wounded and recovered 115 

Staff (i). Adjutant Robert P. Wilson, A. A. A. General; Com- 
pany A (14), First Lieutenant Isaac T. Merry, Sergeants Fred- 
erick A. Butler, J. Newton Carver, Corporal Henry E. Spalding, 
Privates John Bario, James C. Blair, Francis Brashaw, James 
Clement, William A. Dixon, Isaac W. Doran, James E. Norton, 
John McClelland, George Siddon, Philip Smith; Company B (12), 
Sergeant Washington Marsh, Corporal Alonzo R. Fuller, Privates 
Orson A. Bradley, Charles B. Call, Alfred E. Clark, Enos S. 
Collins, Orlando B. Page, Sherman C. Perry, Julius A. Powell, 
William A. Smith, William W. Thompson, Edward Vallier; 
Company C (12), Second Lieutenant Pliny Moore, Acting Ad- 
jutant, Corporal John H. Moffitt, Privates Leonard C. BuUis, 
Mitchell Bully, John J. Clark, John Garrow, Charles Lucas, 
Joseph Putraw, Heman Robinson, Rufus Robinson, William 
Thompson, Lafayette Torry; Company D (9), Sergeants William 



Appendix 365 

W. Hutton, William H. Morris, J. Harvey Winslow, Corporal 
John M. Wing, Privates Edward Grothier, George Hill, Charles 
H. Jenne, Michael A. Kennedy, Alfred Thayer; Company E (13), 
First Lieutenant Charles H. Bentley, Sergeants George Stave, 
Edwin Bates, Corporals Harvey Myers, Melancthon B. Webb, 
Privates Peter Amore, Andrew J. Brice, David Harris, Miles 
Hathaway, Seymour N. How, Peter Myette, James Murphy, 
Albert H. Stephens; Company F (5), Captain John C. Gilmore, 
Sergeant William R, Helms, Privates Joseph Cardinell, Charles 
H. Hodgkins, Erasmus J. Sanford; Company G (9), Sergeants 
Andrew C. Bayne, John F. Russell, Corporal Julius C. Bishop, 
Privates Charles S. Blood, Nelson Coffin, George B. Elliott, 
Alonzo Haile, Andrew Kennedy, William Mayne; Company H 
(9), Corporal Leroy B. Osgood, Privates Cassius R. Corbin, 
Jeremiah P. Converse, Harris R. Durkee, Henry Kennen, Laugh- 
lin F. Maginn, Alexander Mills, Edgar Sartwell, Willard J. Wolcott; 
Company I (15), Sergeant George Fletcher, Corporal William 
A. H. Lord, Privates Charles W. Bugbee, Henry Carr, John S. 
Carr, Ambrose Conger, James Coyne, Cornelius Hugaboom, 
Miner Hilliard, Eusebe Lalime, Willis Lee, Levi C. Rogers, 
Louis Sancomb, Thomas Sullivan, Alexander Tate; Company 
K (16), Sergeants Samuel Cannon, William H Jamison, Corporals 
John Coonan, William A. Nichols, Privates Martin Bromley, 
Nathan Decker, Joseph Gonyea, Stephen Hammond, Gideon R. 
Hewitt, Benjamin F. Jones, Gilbert Lapoint, Henry Mayo, Henry 
Merritt, Melvin Monty, Julius Record, Martin N. Rogers. 



In the Battle of Glendale, June 30, 1862 
Killed 2 

Company A (i), Private Levi S. Northrup; Company F (i), 
Private Eland A. Woodruff. 

Wounded and discharged 2 
Company F (2), Privates Charles Foster, Henry HoUiday. 



366 Appendix 

Wounded and recovered 5 

Company D (i), Captain George Parker; Company E (i), 
Private Henry G. Lezott; Company F (i), Private Timothy Far- 
rell; Company G (i), Private John O'Connor; Company I (i), 
Private Alexander Tate; Privates John Brinning and Nelson L. 
Trussell, Company H, were left on the picket line and captured, 
but were soon released. 

In the Battle of Crampton's Pass, September 14, 1862 
Killed 18 

Company C (3), Privates Henry R. Bissell, William Dunn, Sid- 
ney L. Hare; Company D (6), Sergeant Andrew J. Lee, Corporal 
Charles H. Conant, Privates Thomas Brown, John S. Fraden- 
burgh, John Pulford, G. Myron Van Ornum; Company E (i), 
Private Martin V. Roberts; Company F (3), Privates James D. 
Burdick, Giles N. Cunningham, Henry C. Washburn; Company 
G (i). Private Celistier Grenier; Company H (4), Sergeant Will- 
iam Nowland, Privates Orville Cooper, William Hammond, 
John Maginn. 

Mortally wounded 8 

Company B (i), Private Enos S. Collins; Company C (i). 
Private John Torry; Company D (3), Sergeant William H. Hut- 
ton, Corporal James Robertson, Private David Jones; Company 
F (i), James W. Richards; Company K (2), Privates Andrew A. 
Houghtalling, William Rodden. 

Wounded and discharged 9 

Company A (i), Private John Mitchell; Company B (i). Pri- 
vate William A. Smith; Company D (i), Sergeant Charles I. 
Gardner; Company G (i). Private Thomas W. Curtis; Company 
H (3), Sergeant Francis A. Englehart, Privates Benjamin F. 
Heath, George L. Wilkins; Company K (2), Corporal Robert 
Watson, Private Willis L. Starkey. 



Appendix 367 

Wounded and recovered 28 

Company A (4), Second Lieutenant Charles L. Jones, Privates 
John Bario, Alfred Favereau, John Harnett; Company B (5), 
Sergeant Jerome Eddy, Corporal Benjamin F. Baldwin, Private 
Henry Bottom, Roswell A. Darling, Mathew Nesbitt; Company 
C (4), Privates Brainard Bowen, Mitchell Bully, Smith Pine, 
Louis H. Larock; Company D (3), Second Lieutenant William 
H. Walling, Privates Alden Fairbanks, James T. McCoombs; 
Company E (4), Privates William R. Blair, Peter Labrick, Hiram 
H. Van Arnam, Melancthon B. Webb; Company F (4), Privates 
Joseph E. Bruce, Weliesley McCurry, Loren D. Gladden, Zimri 
Hodges; Company G (2), Privates William Fieldson, David C. J. 
Russell; Company I (2), Privates Martin Callahan, Thomas S. 
Whitehouse, 



In the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862 
Killed I 

Company D (i), Private William H. Wier. Mortally wounded i. 
Company D (i). Corporal Charles M. Smith. Wounded and 
recovered i. Company B (i), Private Alexander Noble. 



In the Battle of Salem Church, May 3, 1863 
Killed 24 

Company A (i). Private George B. White; Company B (4), 
Second Lieutenant William E. Hesselgrave, Privates Mathew 
Nesbitt, Orlando D. Page, Charles Smith; Company C (4), Pri- 
vates Miles Danforth, Ira Johnson, Heman Robinson, Seth 
Thomas; Company D (i). Private William Adams; Company E 
(2), Sergeant Edwin Bates, Private Andrew J. Brice; Company F 
(2), Corporal Weliesley McCurry, Private Loyal Bradish; Com- 
pany G (i). Private John Matoon; Company H (4), Corporal 
Percival P. Page, Privates Orman Murray, Henry D. Stores, 



368 Appendix 

George W. Strong; Company I (3), Privates Asa Bassett, Douglas 
C. Bigelow, Daniel T. McMillan; Company K (2), Privates 
Joseph Burdow, Edwin Weightman. 

Mortally wounded 12 

Company D (2), Privates Joseph C. Campbell, Thomas Hill; 
Company E (4), Sergeants Hiram F. Higby, Privates Joseph 
Bully, Andrew Gregory, Nathan Shelley; Company F (2), Privates 
Joseph E. Bruce, Edward Holbrook; Company G (2), Privates 
William H. Austin, Charles Pierce; Company H (i) Corporal 
Roswell B. Coon; Company I (i). Private John S. Carr. 

Wounded 10 1 

Field (i) Lieutenant Colonel Franklin Palmer; Company A 
(3), Privates Thomas B. Burgess, Benjamin Edgar, John Willis; 
Company B (9), Corporals Alva Beach, Alfred Clark, Edward 
Vallier, Privates Alfred Cornish, Calvin M. Dustin, Martin G. 
FoUett, John McLaughlin, Sherman C. Perry, Orson A. Bradley; 
Company C (19), Sergeant William W. Christian, Corporals 
Edward McCarty, Silas W. Cochran, John V. Howes, Charles 
Lucas, Rufus Robinson, Mitchell Bully, Privates Lorenzo Downey, 
George W. Sevey, Herman Soper, James H. Varno, Louis Garipy, 
John Hilliard, William Leary, Thomas Parks, John Redmond, 
Stephen G. Williams, David N. Wetherby, Joshua Wilcox; 
Company D (10), First Lieutenant William H. Walling, Sergeant 
Robert B. Wilson, Corporals Theodore W. Hilts, Henry Rogers, 
Privates Lucius J. Ayres, John C. Clark, William I. Hicks, 
James T. McCombs, James McKee, Alpheus Thompson ; Com- 
pany E (7), Corporal Jacob Grant, Privates William R. Blair, 
David Harris, William Palmer, William N. Peck, Henry Shelley, 
Henry Sweeney; Company F (8), Sergeants Smith S. Thomas, 
Elrick Bangle, Corporal William Adams, Privates Joseph C. 
Durkee, Amos Gladden, Reuben B. Griswold, Charles H. Hodg- 
kins, Joshua Lalone; Company G (8), Captain William L. Best, 
First Lieutenant Andrew C. Bayne, Sergeants Luther L. Par- 
tridge, John F. Russell, Corporal George B. Elliott, Privates 



Appendix 369 

Valentine Benson, Charles S. Blood, Joseph H. Western; Com- 
pany H (10), First Lieutenant Nelson Z. Cozzens, Corporals 
Rufus Walston, Joel P. Moses, Privates Andrew Donivan, Alex- 
ander Mills, Horace H. Murray, William W. Norton, William H. 
Wilkins, Charles D. Spear; Company I (14), Sergeants Russell J. 
Cunningham, William J. Murray, Corporal Henry H. Ellis, 
Privates William W. Barber, Sylvanus Bassett, Henry Carr, 
Charles Denio, David Edgerly, Ozro N. Hubbard, Amaziah 
Kelley, James Laughlin, William C. Newstead, Charles W. Rosa, 
Thomas S. Whitehouse; Company K (12), Corporals Martin 
N. Rogers, John Sharp, John Coonan, Sanford L. Witherell, 
John W. Nichols, William Peters, Privates Joseph Gonyea, Ste- 
phen Hammond, Mitchell Laduke, Henry Mayo, Lewis Remo, 
Joseph B. Rodden. Thirty-six of the wounded were captured. 

Captured not wounded 17 

Company A (i). Private George M. McCourt; Company B (i), 
Private Edmond G. Smith; Company C (3), Privates Calvin A. 
Collins, George Hills, Joseph W. Mooney; Company D (2), 
Privates Abram Jones, George H. Mouthrop; Company E (3), 
Privates Warren C. Dockum, Milo Hathaway, Elisha A. Phillips; 
Company F (i). Private Willis Shattuck; Company G (3), Pri- 
vates John O'Connor, William A. Chilton, George P. Raven; 
Company H (i), Ephraim Wilkins; Company I (i). Private Silas 
W. Hatch; Company K (i), Captain William W. Wood. 



APPENDIX B 

Record of members of the Sixteenth in other military organizations, the 
Medal of Honor men, and positions held in civil life after the war. 

FIELD, STAFF AND BAND 

Colonel Thomas A. Davies was promoted to be brigadier-general U. S. V., 
and assigned to command the second division of the Army of Tennessee, 
then under the command of Major-General H. W. Halleck; later to com- 
mand the district of Columbus; subsequently to command the district of 
RoUa; and afterwards to command at Leavenworth, Kan. He was 
promoted major-general by brevet and closed his military service in super- 
intending the muster out of troops at Madison, Wis., after the sur- 
render at Appomattox. On retiring from the army he engaged in large 
operations in real estate in New York City. He wrote a series of works on 
geology and on the Book of Genesis, and a treatise entitled "How to 
Make Money and How to Save It," which has the merit of being viritten 
by a man who knew how to practise what he taught. 

Adjutant Joseph Howland was promoted captain and assistant adjutant- 
general U. S. v., colonel of the regiment, and brigadier-general by brevet. 
In 1865 he was elected treasurer of the State of New York and served two 
years. He declined, on the completion of his term, to accept further civil 
employment and devoted his time and fortune to philanthropic labors. 
He built and gave to the village of Matteawan, N.Y., the public library 
which is called by his name, and to the school district in which he resided 
the Tioronda school-house, reserving the upper portion for religious pur- 
poses. For fifteen years he was a manager of the Hudson River State 
Hospital for the Insane, and was for many years a member of the board of 
trustees of the Union Theological Seminary, New York, and an active 
member of other associations. 

Surgeon William B. Crandall continued in the medical department until 
the close of the War, first as assistant surgeon Twenty-ninth Connecticut 
and later as surgeon of the Thirty-third U. S. C T. 

Assistant Surgeon John H. Mooers was promoted to be surgeon of the 
One Hundred and Eighteenth New York, and later appointed acting assist- 
ant-surgeon U. S. A. He was killed in battle in 1868, while fighting the 
Indians. 



Appendix 371 

Assistant Surgeon Charles C. Murphy was promoted to be surgeon of 
the Twelfth New York. 

Chaplain Francis B. Hall was given a Medal of Honor for " Voluntarily 
exposing himself to a heavy fire during the thickest of the fight, and carrying 
wounded men to the rear for treatment and attendance. Salem Heights, 
Virginia, May 3rd, 1863." 

Drum-major Howard B. Utter joined the One Hundred and Forty- 
second New York, and was promoted second and first lieutenant. 

James Spencer, Jr., member of the band, enUsted in the Twentieth 
New York Cavalry and was promoted to a captaincy. 



Company A 

First Lieutenant Oliver B. Flagg entered the Fourteenth New York 
Heavy Artillery, and rose to a captaincy. 

Sergeant Isaac W. Doran re-enlisted in the Fourteenth New York Heavy 
Artillery, and was promoted to a lieutenancy. 

Corporal William H. Daniels was promoted captain and assistant quar- 
termaster U. S. v., given charge of the trains of the Sixth Corps, and bre- 
veted major. Appointed and reappointed collector of customs, district of 
Oswegatchie, N.Y. 

Corporal Joseph Cowan was elected to the legislature of the State of 
Nevada. 

Private Isaac O. Best entered the ministry and has been in charge of 
large parishes in the Mohawk Valley and in Central New York. 

Private Thomas B. Burgess enlisted in the Thirteenth New York Cav- 
alry. In the campaign of 1864 he carried an important dispatch through 
the enemy's Hnes to General Sheridan, who sent him tack to his regiment 
escorted by a regiment of cavalry, with a request to his colonel to promote 
Burgess to a sergeancy. 

Private Henry H. Service enlisted in the Fourteenth New York Heavy 
Artillery, and rose to a first lieutenancy. 

Private Lore Alvord was promoted first lieutenant and captain Eighth 
Maine, entered upon the practice of the law in Iowa, and was elected to 
the legislature. 

Musician William W. Bean was elected mayor of Streator, 111., and 
has for many years edited The Monitor, an influential newspaper in that city. 



Company B 

Captain James M. Pomeroy was appointed major Ninth Kansas Cavalry, 
lieutenant-colonel V. R. C. and breveted colonel U. S. V. 

First Lieutenant Edwin C. Knapp was appointed captain in the One 
Hundred and Ninety-third New York. 



372 Appendix 

Sergeant Charles N. Munson was promoted second lieutenant and first 
lieutenant in the One Hundred and Sixth New York. Since the war he 
has been an influential business man in Missouri and CaUfornia. 

Private Alexander Noble re-enUsted in the First U. S. V., and was pro- 
moted to a lieutenancy in the One Hundred and Eighth U. S. C. T. 

Company C 

Captain Franklin Palmer was promoted major and lieutenant-colonel of 
the regiment. After returning home he was engaged in manufacturing iron, 
and has been for a number of years chairman of the board of supervisors 
of Clinton County. 

Captain PUny Moore raised a company of cavalry and was appointed 
captain in the Twenty-sixth New York Cavalry. 

First Lieutenant Royal Corbin entered upon the practice of the law, 
and has attained a position in the first rank of his profession in the state. 

Sergeant John H. Mofl&tt was given a Medal of Honor for " Voluntarily 
taking up the regimental colors after several color-bearers had been shot 
down, and carrying them until he himself was wounded, June 17th, 1862." 
He was a member of the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses, and is presi- 
dent of a bank in Plattsburgh, N.Y. 

Private John W. Matthews enlisted in the Ninety-sixth New York, and 
was promoted through all the grades to captain. 

Company D 

Captain George Parker was elected to the New York legislature, and 
appointed collector of customs, district of Oswegatchie. 

First Lieutenant Albert M. Barney was promoted to be captain in the 
regiment, to be lieutenant-colonel and colonel of the One Hundred and 
Forty-second New York, and a brevet brigadier-general. He was appointed 
collector of customs, district of Brownsville, Tex. 

Second Lieutenant Robert P. Wilson was promoted to be adjutant of 
the regiment, to be captain and A. A. General U. S. Vols.; commissioned 
major I2ist N. Y. which he dechned. Resigned on account of wounds 
February 1864, resumed the study of law, which he had left to join the 
army, and rose to prominence in the profession in Buffalo, N. Y. , where 
he died in 1893. 

First Sergeant William H. Walling was promoted to be second and first 
lieutenant in the regiment. Was appointed first lieutenant in the One 
Hundred and Forty-second New York, promoted captain, breveted major 
and Heutenant-colonel U. S. V., and given a Medal of Honor for the fol- 
lowing: "During the bombardment of the fort, he captured and brought 
off the flag of the fort, the flag staff having been shot down. Fort Fisher, 
North Carolina, December 25, 1864." He was elected sheriff of St. Law- 
rence County, New York. 



Appendix 373 

Second Lieutenant William H. Morris re-enlisted in the artillery, and 
was promoted to a lieutenancy in the Twentieth New York Independent 
Battery. 

Sergeant Frederick H. Haile joined the Eighteenth New York Cavalry, 
and was promoted to a captaincy. 

Corporal David Quill re-enlisted in the Twentieth New York Cavalry, 
and was promoted to a lieutenancy. 

Private Jason N. Fradenburgh entered the ministry and received the de- 
gree of D.D.; he is the author of several religious works. 

Private James H. Lynde re-enlisted and rose to a lieutenancy in the 
Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery. 

Private Michael Tio was elected sheriff of Pierce County, Wisconsin. 

Company E 

Captain John L. Stetson was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Fifty- 
ninth New York, and was killed while commanding his regiment in the 
battle of Antietam. 

Captain Charles H. Bentley raised a company and was appointed captain 
in the Second New York Veteran Cavalry. 

Private Warren C. Dockum, transferred to the One Hundred and Twenty- 
first New York, was given a Medal of Honor, Sailors' Creek, Virginia, April 
6, 1865, for the "Capture of flag of Savannah Guards [C. S. A.], after two 
other men had been killed in the effort." 

Company F 

Captain John C Gilmore was promoted to be major of the regiment. 
Appointed lieutenant-colonel One Hundred and Ninety-third New York. 
Appointed captain Thirty-eighth U. S. Infantry; promoted to major, lieu- 
tenant-colonel, and colonel in the adjutant-general's department U. S. A.; 
brigadier-general U.S.V. in Spanish War; retired brigadier-general U. S. A. 
He was given a Medal of Honor for "Having seized the colors of his regi- 
ment and gallantly rallied his men under a very severe fire, Salem Heights, 
Virginia, May 3rd, 1863." 

Second Lieutenant William R. Helms joined the Fourteenth New York 
Heavy Artillery, and rose to a captaincy. He entered the ministry, and is 
a prominent member of the Black River Conference, Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Private James Allen was given a Medal of Honor for "Capture of flag 
of Sixteenth Georgia infantry [C. S. A.], Crampton's Pass, Maryland, Sep- 
tember 14th, 1862." 

Private Joseph D. Lamb entered the ministry, and has filled pulpits in 
Minnesota and California. 

Private Ransom Mathews enlisted in the One Hundred and Ninety- 
third New York, and was promoted to be second and first lieutenant. 



374 Appendix 



Company G 

Captain Newton Martin Curtis was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel 
and colonel One Hundred and Forty-second New York; brevet brigadier- 
general U.S. v.; commanded brigades in the Tenth, the Eighteenth and 
the Twenty-fourth Corps; led the assault at Fort Fisher, North CaroUna; 
was promoted brigadier-general U. S. V. on the field, his appointment hav- 
ing been written on a sheet of foolscap by the Secretary of War " for gallant 
services in the capture of Fort Fisher"; was promoted major-general by 
brevet for the same action, and given a Medal of Honor for being "The first 
man to pass through the stockade: he personally led each assault on the 
traverses, and was four times wounded." After the surrender at Appomat- 
tox he was appointed chief of stafif Department of Virginia, and later com- 
mander of Southwestern Virginia; was mustered out January 15, 1866. 
He is a member of the New York Commandery of the Military Order of 
the Loyal Legion of the United States; was Commander of the Department 
of New York, G. A. R. in 1888. Was appointed collector of customs, district of 
Oswegatchie; was member of New York Assembly 1884 to 1890 inclusive; was 
member of the Fifty-second, the Fifty-third and the Fifty-fourth Congresses. 
He was author of the bill in the New York legislature to estabhsh the St. 
Lawrence State Hospital; author of the bill in Congress that separated the 
soldierc of the United States Army convicted of violations of miUtary offences 
from those convicted of common law crimes; author of the bill to aboUsh 
the penalty of death for eighteen offences under Federal laws and provid- 
ing for the finding by the jury in cases of murder and of rape of verdicts of 
"guilty without capital punishment," the two offences for which execu- 
tions are still possible whenever the jury does not qualify the verdict. He had 
charge of the " William and Mary College bill" in the Fifty-second Congress, 
which gave from the Federal Treasury sixty-five thousand dollars to re- 
store the library wantonly burned by a Federal soldier during the Civil 
War when within the lines of the Union Army. He is a Ufe member of the 
New York Agricultural Society, and was its president in 1880; is a life 
member of the American Shorthorn Breeders' Association, and a life member 
of the Shorthorn Breeders' Association of Great Britain. He was one of 
the committee to locate the New York Agricultural Experiment Station at 
Geneva, the first secretary' of the board of control of the station, and for 
six years its president. Since 1898 he has been an assistant inspector-gen- 
eral of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. 

First Lieutenant Simon C. Vedder was appointed captain and commis- 
sary of subsistence; second lieutenant Twenty-eighth U. S. Infantry; pro- 
moted to be captain and breveted major. He was retired in 189 1, and 
died in 1892. 

First Lieutenant Andrew C. Bayne was appointed captain Veteran Re- 
serve Corps, second lieutenant Forty-second infantry U. S. A., and re- 



Appendix 375 

tired on account of injuries received in service. He entered the employ of 
a fire insurance company, and at his death was vice-president of the ^tna 
Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, Conn. 

Sergeant Oilman L. Johnson was appointed second heutenant One Hun- 
dred and Forty-second New York, promoted to be first lieutenant. After 
his muster out was graduated from St. Lawrence University Law School, 
and began the practice of his profession in Iowa, where he has held various 
oflBcial positions, including membership in the lower house and senate of 
the state legislature. 

Corporal James McKelvey re-enlisted in the Fourteenth New York 
Heavy Artillery, and was promoted to a lieutenancy. 

Private Charles B. Jillson was elected to the legislature of the State of 
California. 

Company H 

Private Nelson L. Trussell re-enlisted in the Fourteenth New York Heavy 
Artillery, and was promoted to a lieutenancy. 
Private Laughlin F. Maginn became a successful lawyer in Nebraska. 

Company I 

Captain Joel J. Seaver was promoted to be major, lieutenant-colonel and 
colonel of the Sixteenth, and brevet brigadier-general. He was elected a 
member of the New York Constitutional Convention of 1867. He contin- 
ued to edit the Malone Palladium for many years after his muster out of 
service, and maintained its high character as a leading paper, advocating 
the principles of the Republican party. 

First Lieutenant Frederick F. Wead was promoted to be lieutenant -colonel 
and colonel of the Ninety-eighth New York, and was killed while leading 
his regiment in the charge at Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 3rd, 1864. 

Musician Arthur M. Grant was transferred to the Eighteenth New York, 
and was promoted to a Ueutenancy. 

Company K 

Sergeant Charles Grant enUsted in the Thirteenth New York Cavalry 
and was promoted to be first lieutenant. 

Private Hiram H. Ketchum was appointed second lieutenant in the 
Thirteenth U. S. Infantry, and rose through the grades to be major of the 
Twenty-second Infantry. He was retired in 1898, and died a month later. 



INDEX 



Confederates in Italics 



Alabama Regiments: 
^th Rifles, 38, 264. 
6th Rifles, 43, 264. 
Albany, 2, 10, 14, 19, 307, 309. 
Alexandria, 33, 52, 64, 65, 74, 87, 

90, 91, 156, 157, 166, 283. 
Allen, J., 373. 
Allen, J. S., 38. 
Alvord, L., 371. 
Ambulance Corps, 172-174. 
Ames, A., 45. 
Anderson, G. B., 112. 
Anderson, R., i. 
Anderson, R. H., 180, 239, 243, 248, 

256. 
Andrus, A., 17. 
Annandale, 38, 158. 
Anthony, C, 12. 

Aquia Creek, 148, 157, 218, 232, 307. 
Armstrong, T., 15. 
Army Commander, Qualities of, 225. 
Army of the 

Cumberland, 293. 
North-eastern Virginia, 49. 
Northern Virginia, 49, 174, 

179, 19s, 217, 257. 
Potomac, 49, 141, 149-150, 157, 
159, 164, 215-216, 217-218, 
219, 224-225, 226, 257, 261, 
265, 296. 
Potomac, 49. 
Shenandoah, 49. 
Virginia, 205, 232. 
Army Corps: 

ist, 90, 168-169, 179-186, 217- 
225, 240-243, 245-249, 253, 
256. 
2nd, iio-iii, 117, 130-134. 164. 
168, 181-185, 196, 217-218, 
221, 236, 241-243, 246, 252- 
256. 
3rd, 106, no, 112, 115, 117, 130, 



137. 159. 217-218, 221, 236, 
239, 240-241, 243, 245, 252, 256. 

4th, 106, no, 117, 130, 132, 140. 

5th, 105, no, 117, 130, 132, 157, 
184, 195, 217-218, 233-236, 

243. 253- 

6th, 105, no, 117, 130, 132, 134, 
157-159. 164, 168-169, 173, 
181-182, 185, 214-215, 217, 
230, 245-249, 255-256, 263, 
267, 290-292, 296, 299-301, 
302-303. 

9th, 168-169, 179, 182-183, 185, 
217-218, 221, 293. 

loth, 290. 

nth, 217, 233-236, 238, 240, 243, 
252-253. 256. 

12th, 168-169, 180. 185, 189, 217, 
233-238, 240-241, 243, 252, 
254-256, 

18th, 290. 

24th, 290. 
Arnold, R., 41, 299. 
Average Age and Height at En- 
listment, 323, 324, 328, 332, 

336. 339. 343. 346, 350. 354, 358, 

361. 
Averell, J., 181. 
Averell, W. J., 4. 
Ayres, R. B., 41, 300. 



Bakersville, 197-198, 200, 211, 215. 
Balestier, Mrs. J. A., 280. 
Baltimore, 31. 
Banks, N. P., n7, 168. 
Barksdale, W., 134. 
Barney, A. M., 12, 81, 114, 171, 372. 
Bartlett, J. J., 100, 105-106, 120, 
138, 143, 155, 182, 205-209, 

297, 303-304- 
Bartlett, D. L., 21. 



378 



Index 



Battles: 

Antietam, 179-186. 
Blackburn's Ford, 40. 
Bull Run, 41, 47. 49. 5i. 52, 258. 
Chancellorsville, 233-243. 
Crampton's Pass, 167-174, 179, 

181-182, 229, 303, 311. 
Fair Oaks, 111-113. 
Fredericksburg, 217, 220-225. 
Gaines's Mill, 117-129, 200, 213, 

299. 3^3' 311- 

Garnett's Farm, 132. 

Glendale, 137-140. 

Malvern Hill, 140. 

Marye's Heights, 245-246, 297, 
301. 

Peach Orchard, 132-133. 

Salem Heights, 59, 245, 247-248, 
266-267, 311- 

Savage's Station, 134-135. 

Turner's Pass, 169, 179. 

West Point, 96, 303, 308. 

White Oak Sv?amp, 135-137. 
Bayne, A. C, 374. 
Bean, W. W., 371. 
Beauregard, G. T., 41, 46, 49. 
Beckwith, B. B., 13. 
BeckwJth, G. M., 15. 
Bee, B. R., 45. 
Belle Plaine, 219, 220. 
Bellows, Mrs. H. W., 280. 
Bentley, C. H., 373. 
Berry, H. G., 257. 
Best, I. O., 371. 
Bicknell, G. W., 76, 77, 139, 304. 
Bidwell, D. D., 297. 
Blenker, L., 42. 
Bolles, W., 45- 
Bottom's Bridge, in, 119. 
Bowne, C. M., 12. 
Bradley, Miss S. S., 88. 
Bramhall, W. M., 133. 
Brick House Landing, 95. 
Brooks, W. T. H., 136, 182, 245, 

247, 290-292, 296, 300, 303. 
Brown's Ferry, 294-295. 
Brown, W. C, 4. 
Buck, L. L., 190. 
Bullies and Braggarts, 270. 
Burgess, T. B., 371. 
Bumham, H., 297. 
Bumside, A. E., 41, 42, 44, 164, 
168, 183, 216, 218, 221-225, 
226, 247, 261-262, 295. 
Burr, S., 124. 



Butterfield, D., 221, 229, 234, 254. 
Burwell, Miss R., 154. 
Butler, Miss, 280. 

Cameron Run, 35-37. 
Cameron, S., 2. 
Carr, D., 153. 
Cary, Miss Mary, 154. 
Casey, S., 111-113. 
Casualties, 48, 103, 113, 127, 141, 
150, 156, 169, 186, 222, 243, 

249, 257, 294- 
Nominal list of, 362-369. 
Percentage of, 315-316. 
Catlett's Station, 93, 219. 
Centre ville, 40-43, 158. 
Cervantes, 87, 272-273. 
Charleston, S.C., i, 15. 
Chase, S. P., 261. 
Chazy, 16. 
Cobb, A., 298. 
College of William and Mary, 152, 

374- 
Confederate Mason, 97, 193. 
Comte de Paris, 121. 
Cook, J., 97, loi. 
Corbin, R., 15, 279, 372. 
Cornwallis, 154-155. 
Corps Badges, 229 
Couch, D. N., 111-112, 218, 228, 

232, 236, 241-242, 253-255. 
Cowan, J., 371. 

Crandall, W. B., 24, 206, 305, 370. 
Craig, P. O., 43- 
Curtis, A. J., 175. 
Curtis, N. M., 6-7, 9, 22, 55, 78-80, 

90, 92, 100-102, 122, 146-147, 

171, 206, 280-285, 321, 374- 



Dana, C. A., 295. 

Danforth, H. M., 5. 

Daniels, W. H., 300, 371. 

Dart, W. A., 10. 

Davidson, J. W., 292. 

Davies, C, 19, 201. 

Davies, H. E., 19. 

Davies, T. A., 19-20, 22-24, 28-35, 

42-44, 53, 5^58, 60-61, 75-76, 

79, 89, 201, 210, 370. 
Davies, Mrs. T. A., 56-57. 
Dean, A. H., 125. 
Delafield, R., 19. 
Depeyster, 3, 5-7, 10. 
de Peyster, J. W., 163. 



Index 



379 



Democratic Party, 15, 147, 
Dickinson, D. S., 62. 
Dickinson, J., 254. 
Dockum, W. C, 373. 
Donnelly, D., 28. 
Doesticks, Q. K. P., 71. 
Doran, I. W., 371. 
Drilling Recruits, 26. 
Duane, J. C, 135. 
Durkee, H. R., 131. 

Eagan, P., 15. 
Early, J. A., 46. 
Eastman, B., 5, 7. 
Elderkin, N. S., 12. 
Elderkin, W. A., 44. 
ElUott, W. L., 59. 
Estvan, B., 128. 
Ewell, R. S., 42, 46-47. 

Fairfax Court House, 38. 

Faison, F. J., 124. 

Fifth South Carolina, 43, 264. 

Fisher, C. F., 45. 

Flagg, O. B.,371. 

Flags : 

British, 155-156. 

Confederate, 171, 249. 

United States, 29, 156. 
Forts: 

Ellsworth, 33, 52, 60-61, 74. 

Fisher, 45, 271,321. 

Lyon, 51, 61-62, 70, 74. 

Monroe, 8. 

Stevens, 301. 

Sumter, i, 3, 5. 
Foote, H. G., 59- 
Foster, E. W., 11. 
Fox, W. F., 201, 316. 
Fradenburgh, J. N., 373. 
Franklin, W. B., 42, 44, 52-55, 73, 
80, 90, 93, 132-136, 144, 182, 
185, 218, 220-221, 223, 290- 
292. 
Frederick, Md., 167-168, 172. 
Fremont, J. C, 117. 
French, W. H., 127, 182, 221. 

Gaines's Mill, 107, 299. 
Gardiner, Miss., 280. 
Garibaldi Guards, 39. 
Getty, G. W., 222, 300. 
Gibbon, J., 223, 246, 249. 
Gibbs, E. C, 63, 65. 
Gibson, W., 13, 80, 107. 



Gilmore, J. C, 11, 53, 79-80, 100- 

102, 206-209, 373- 
Gilson, Miss H. L., 281-283. 
Goodrich, W. B., 186-187. 
Gordon, J. B., 43, 46, 264. 
Gouvemeur, 11-12. 
Grant, A. M., 375. 
Grant, C., 375. 
Grant, L. A., 136. 
Grant, U. S., 149-150, 223, 291, 

293-295- 
Greek Cross, 301. 
Greene, G. S., 187-190. 
Griffin, C, 45, 195. 
Griffin, Mrs. W. P., 280. 
Grigsby House, 42, 159, 264. 
Guindon, E. W., 237. 

Hall, F. B., 219, 265-267, 371. 
Haight, D., 280. 
Haile, F. H.,373. 

Halleck, H. W., 149-151, 157, 165- 
166, 168-169, 218, 226, 229, 

232, 240, 261. 
Hamilton, A., 155. 
Hamilton, F., 300. 

Hancock, W. S., 221-222, 236, 252, 

292-293, 299. 
Harper's Ferry, 167, 169, 179, 217. 
Harrison's Landing, 142, 152. 
Hausen, J., 300. 
Havelock, H., 86. 
Hawkes, G. P., 161. 
Heintzelman, S. P., 41-42, 44. 60. 

132-133, 227. 
Hehns, W. R., 373. 
Henry, P., 153. 
Hicks, E. F., 123. 
Hill, A. P., 127, 179, 183, 217, 256- 

^57- 
Hill,D.H., 112, 127, 180, 217, 256. 
Home, National D. V. S., 55, 300. 
Hone, R. S., 29. 
Hood, J. B., 97, 102, 118. 
Hooker, J., 112, 115-116, 148, 180, 

218, 221-223, 226-232, 234- 

237, 240-243, 245, 248-257, 

260-262. 
Hopkins, H., 277-278, 285. 
Hopkins, W., 10, 174. 
Hopkins, W. R., 146, 300. 
Horr, P., 12. 
Howard, O. O., 42,44. 86, 221-222 

233, 238, 242. 
Howe, A. P., 248. 



38o 



Index 



Howland, J., 24, 31, 34, 58, 60, 
71, 72, 89, 92, 94-95> 99-102, 
114, 126, 130, 142, 144-146, 
170, 200-208, 212, 278, 281, 

305-307> 310. 370- 
Howland, Mrs. J., 27, 30, 32, 105, 

126, 277-281, 283, 285, 305- 

307. 310. 
Howland, Mrs. R. S., 285-286. 
Huger, B., 112. 
Humphreys, A. A., 251. 
Hunt, H. J., 42, 264. 
Hunter, D., 41-42. 
Hunting Creek, 61. 

Jackson, A., 258. 

Jackson, N. J., 298. 

Jackson, T. J., 46, 117, 119, 127, 

135. 137. 167, 239, 252, 257- 

260. 
James, A. B., 18, 20. 
James, H. R., 3-5. 
Jamestown Colony, 106. 
Jefferson, T., 152-154. 
Jillson, C. B., 375. 
Johnson, Frank, 163. 
Johnson, G. L., 375. 
Johnson, H. S., 15. 
Johnson, R., 244. 
Johnston, J. E., 41, 49. 
Jones, D. R., 43, 264. 
Jones, John Paul, 257-259. 
Judd, S. F., 9. 
Judson, D. C, 4, 7-8, 54. 

Kearny, P., St., 162. 

Kearny, P., 73, 76, 93, 139, 159- 

163, 229, 291. 
Kelley, J. E., 113. 
Kershaw, J. B., 134. 
Ketchum, H. H., 375. 
Keyes, E. D., 41, 44-4S> m> 132- 
Kirkland, Mrs., 276. 
Knap, J. M., 181. 
Knapp, E. C, 371. 
Knapp, F. N., 280. 
Knowles, H. L., 10. 

Lafayette, General, 155. 
Lake Cham plain, 4, 8, 14, 16. 
Lamb, J. D., 373. 
Lamb, W., 46. 
Law, E. M., 134. 
Lawrence, L., 15. 
Lawton, A. R., 118. 



Lee, Fitzhugh, 157, 161. 

Lee, F. L., 153. 

Lee, H., 121. 

Lee, R. E., 69, 151, 161, 167, 172, 

179-180, 188, 235, 242, 247, 

250, 252, 256-257. 
Lee, Mrs. R. E., 105. 
Lee, R. H., 153-154- 
Liberty, Cradle of, 106. 
Lincoln, A., i, 5, 18, 80-81, 144, 

166, 172, 200, 205, 226-227, 

229-230, 232, 261-262, 317. 
Lincoln, B., 155. 
Lindsay, Miss M., 17. 
Logan, J. A., 44. 
Longstreet, J., 46, 112, 127, 160, 

179, 183, 217. 
Luse, W. H., 265. 
Lynde, J. H.,373. 



McAtee, F., 194, 211, 299. 

McClellan, G. B., 49, 61, 80, loi, 
104-105, 108, no, 1 1 7-1 18, 
130, 132, 134, 141, 144, 148- 
150. 157-158, 164-169, 180, 
183-184, 198, 200, 216-218, 
223, 225, 262, 291. 

McDowell, I., 34, 38, 40-41, 45, 
47-50, 60, 90, 93, iio-iii, 117. 

McFadden, J., 32. 

McKelvey, J., 375. 

McLaws, L., 179, 247-248, 256. 

McLean, Mr., 49. 

McMahon, M. T., 135-137, 145, 
267, 299. 

McMasters, D. S., 15. 

McReynolds, A. T., 73. 

Madison, J., 152. 

Maginn, L. F., 375. 

Magone, D., 7. 

Magruder, J. B., 132, 134. 

Maine Regiments: 

5th, 60, 139-140, 159, 170, 304. 
6th, 297. 

Malone, 8, 17. 

Marsh, L. R., 28. 

Marsh, S., 20, 22, 57-58, 91-92, 143. 

Marshall, J., 152. 

Mason, G., Gunston Hall, 48, 65-66. 

Mason, G., Spring Bank, 61, 63-64. 

Mason, Miss O., 47-48. 

Massachusetts Troops: 

J. Porter's Battery A, 73, 138. 
15th regiment, infantry, 132. 



Index 



381 



1 8th regiment infantry, 195. 
19th regiment infantry, 220. 
20th regiment infantry, 220. 
2 1 St regiment infantry, 161. 
22nd regiment infantry, 195. 
Matthews, R., 373- 
Matthews, J. W., 372. 
Meade, Bishop, 67. 
Meade, G. G., 228, 233-234, 241- 

242, 254. 
Meagher, F., 127, 132, 135. 
Mechanicsville, 106. 
Medical Department, 274, 276, 320. 
Medal of Honor, 320-321. 
Merriam, E. N., 4- 
Merritt, E. A., 10. 
Michigan Troops: 
4th infantry, 195. 
7th infantry, 220. 
Miles, D. S., 34-35. 42, 211. 
MiUar, A. M., 83-85, 211. 
Miller, L. M., 28. 
Moffitt, J. H., 372. 
Mississippi Troops: 
17//^ infantry, 43. 264- 
iSth infantry, 43. 264-265. 
Monroe, J., 152- 
Montgomery, Ala., i. 
Mooers, B., i4- 
Mooers, J. H., 24, 370. 
Mooney, J., 39-4° • 
Moore, P., 14-15. 3°S' 372- 
Morell, G. W., 184. 
Morgan, E. D., 2, 9, 19, 29, 55, I47. 

205-206, 210. 
Mortally Wounded, 286. 
Morris, W. H., 372. 
Mount Vernon, 34- 
Mummery, F., 97-98- 
Munson, C. N., 372. 
Murphy, C. C., 371- 
Myers, C. G., 9. 18-19. 
Myers, G. R., 18. 



Naglee, B. N., 119. 
Nevin, D. A., 4, 80. 
New Jersey Troops: 

W. Hexamer's Battery A, 73, 99; 

138, 143- 
ist infantry, 73, 170, 291. 

2nd infantry, 73, 170. 291- 
3rd infantry, 73, 17°. 291- 
4th infantry, 73, 170. 291- 
Newport News, 156. 



Newton, J., 70, 76, 97, 120, 247, 292. 
New York Troops: 
Batteries: 

T. W. Osbom's D, ist Regi- 
ment, II, 116, 133-134, 140- 
W. R. Wilson's F, ist regiment, 

73, 100. 
G. W. Cothran's M, ist regi- 
ment, 181. 
W. M. Bramhall's 6th Inde- 
pendent, 133. 
Cavalry: 

ist regiment, 73, 106. 
6th regiment, 233, 244. 
Infantry regiments: 
Sth, 301, 315. 
12th, 59. 
13th, 59. 

16th, 18, 34-35, 38, 44, 57, 59- 
60, 8r, 88, 103, 113, 115-110, 
120, 127, 131, 134, 138, 155, 
158, 169-170, 174, 176, 186, 
192, 205, 219, 263, 265, 278, 
281, 290, 300-304, 307, 315- 
316, Roster of i6th, 322-361. 
i8th, 5, 33> 38, 170. 
2 ist, 59. 

26th, 59, 60, 71-72, 82. 
27th, 59, 60, 106, 138, 170, 304. 
28th, 28. 

31st, 33, 73. 130, 194, 211, 298. 
32nd, 33, 73, 170- 
34th, 24, X13, 186. 
49th, 297. 
51st, 183. 
59th, 33, 186. 
60th, 186-189. 
65th, 297. 
78th, 188. 
89th, 221. 
92nd, 113. 
96th, 113. 
98th, 113. 
102nd, 188. 
io6th, 147, 290. 
ii8th, 25, 370. 
I20th, 278. 

I2ISt, 302. 
137th, 188. 

142nd, 81, 163, 214. 
149th, 188. 
Noble, A., 372. 
North CaroUna Troops: 
6th infantry regiment, 45. 
20th infantry regiment, 120-122. 



3^2 



Index 



Ogdensburg, 3, 7, 147, 181, 297. 

O'Leary, C, 229, 300. 

Olmstead, F. L., 280. 

Ord, J. G., 98. 

Osborn, T. W., 115-116, 133-134, 

140, 239, 243. 
Osborne, S. C, 289. 

Palmer, F., 14, 80, 145, 206-207, 

209, 265, 372. 
Palmer, W., 15. 
Parker, Mrs. C. A., 12. 
Parker, G., 12, 80, 92-93, 171, 215, 

372. 
Parmelee, A. B., 17. 
Paxton, E. F., 257. 
Pennsylvania Troops: 
Batteries: 

J. M. Knap's E, 181. 
R. B. Hampton's F, 181. 
Cavalry regiments: 
8th, 233. 
17th, 233. 
Infantry regiments: 
51st, 183. 

95th, 73- 

96th, 82, 107, 170. 

ii8th, 195. 
Pickett, G. E., 188. 
Piatt, E. R., 73, 99, 300. 
Plattsburgh, 8, 14, 16, 20, 265. 
Pleasant Valley, 178. 
Pleasonton, A., 183, 195, 233, 235, 

238, 243, 250, 256. 
Pocahontas, 107. 
Pohick Church, 65-69. 
Pomeroy, J. M., lo-ii, 80, 371. 
Pope, J., 150, 157, 161, 164, 166- 

167, 232 
Porter, A., 41-42. 
Porter, D. D., 46. 

Porter, F. J., 105, 118-119, 126-127. 
Porter, H., 259. 
Porter, J., 73, 138. 
Pratt, C. E., 130, 298-299. 
Presentiments, 96, 269, 271. 
Proctor, R., 137, 298. 

Quakers, 62-65, 67. 
Quill, D., 373. 

Raleigh Tavern, 153. 
Randolph, G. E., 138. 
Rathbone, J- F., 9, 21, 25. 
Raymond, H. H., 11. 



Read, J. M., 9, 22. 

Reed, «V^. H., 282. 

Red Cross, 288. 

Republic, Cradle of, 106. 

Resting Soldiers, 192. 

Reviews, 29, 61, 80-81, 218, 228, 

240. 
Reynolds, J. F., 228, 240, 242, 246. 
Rhode Island Battery E, 138. 
Richardson, I. B., 40-43, 45-46, 135. 
Robertson, J., 69, 283, 285. 
Rodden, J. B., 44. 
Roosevelt, T., 259. 
Rosecrans, W. S., 293. 
Roster of i6th New York, 322-361. 
Rouse Point, 4, 8, 14. 
Russell, D. A., 297. 

Sackrider, N., 4. 

Sailly, F. L. C, 15. 

Saint Lawrence University, 77, 190, 

375- 
Sanitary Commission, 276, 281, 288. 
Schenck, R. C, 42. 
Scofield, J. K., 99, 300. 
Scott, W., 56, 277. 
Seaver, J. J., 8, 17, 79-80, 83, 114, 

142, 145, 170, 202, 206-211, 

263-264, 309-310, 312, 375. 
Sedgwick, J., in, 228, 235, 245- 

246, 248, 254, 256, 281, 296, 

303- 

Semmes, P. J., 134. 

Service, H. H., 371. 

Seymour, H., 308-309. 

Seymour, T., 180. 

Shakespeare, 272. 

Shaler, A., 297. 

Shannon, R. C., 159-160. 

Sharp, Miss C, 12. 

Sharpsburg, 179, 183. 

Shaw, D., 13. 

Sheridan, P. H., 296. 

Sherman, S. N., 9, 19-21, 24. 

Sherman, W T., 42, 44. 

Sickles, D. S., 228, 238-239, 241- 
242, 253. 

Sigel, F., 228. 

Sitgreaves, L., 25. 

Slocum, H. W., 19, 44, 55, 71-72, 
76, 80, 93, 105, 107, 109, 119, 
127, 138, 144, 146-147. 157, 
182, 202, 205-206, 228, 233- 
238, 251, 291-292. 

Smith, J., 106. 



Index 



3^3 



Smith, W. F., 105, 132, 135, 137, 
215, 218, 223, 228, . )o-296. 

Snyder, J. H., 23. 

Soldier, Efficient Age of, 317. 

Soldier, Equipments of, 231. 

Soldier, Qualities of, 77-78, 316-317. 

South Carolina, Fifth Regiment of, 
43. 264. 

Spencer, J. C, 7. 

Spencer, J. M., 12. 

Spencer, J. M., Jr., 371. 

Split Timber, 91. 

Stannard, G. J., 298. 

Stanton, E. M., no, 144, 226, 261. 

Sterne, L., 86. 

Stetson, J. L., 8, 15, 33, 75, 196,373- 

Stetson, L., 15. 

Stevens, G. T., 133, 300. 

Stockholm, 13. 

Stone, C. R., 199. 

Stone, R. G., 25. 

Stoneman, G., 106, 228, 230. 

Stratton, R. B., 29, 83. 

Straw Hats, 114, 123, 131, 138. 

Strong, Mrs. G. T., 280. 

Sturdevant, S. H., 182, 196, 300. 

Sumner,E.V., 111,132-134,218,222. 

Sykes, G., 120, 168, 184, 236, 252, 

Tabernacle Church, 236, 250. 

Tall men, 10, 90, 317. 

Tapley, F. C., 25, 42-43, "4. 

Tappan, C. O., 10. 

Taylor, G. W., 120, 157. 

Taylor, Z., 20. 

Terry, A. H., 45-46. 

Texas Troops: 

Hood's Brigade, 97, 102, 
Fourth regiment, 102-103. 

Thanksgiving Day, 82, 87, 219, 

Thatcher, G. H., 9. 

Thomas, G. H., 292, 295. 

Thompkins, C. H., 300. 

Thompkins, D. D., 28. 

Thompson, J. S., 14. 

Tio, M., 373. 

Torbert, A. T. A., 296. 

Thornton, J. B. T., 48. 

ToUes, C. W., 300. 

Townsend, F., 18. 

Tripler, C. S., 288. 

Turner's Pass, 168-169, 182. 

Trussell, N. L., 375. 

Tuttle, Miss H., 7. 

Tyler, D., 40-42. 



Under Fire, 268-273. 
United States Artillery: 

Ayres, R. B., E, Third, 41. 

Carlisle, J. H., E, Second, 41. 

De Russy, G. A., K, Fourth, 138. 

Edwards, J., G, First, 42, L-M, 
Third, 120-121, 264. 

Gibson, H. G., C, Third, 183. 

Griffin, C, D, Fifth, 45. 

Hains, P. C, M, Second, 183. 

Hunt, H. J., M, Second, 42. 

Hazzard, G. W., C, Fourth, 135. 

Piatt, E. R., D, Second, 73, 99. 

Ricketts, J. B., I, First, 45. 

Robertson, J. M., B, Second, 183. 

Tidball, A, Second, 183. 

Upton, E., D, Second, 138, 296. 
Utter, H. B., 371. 



Van Buren, P., 163. 
Van Rensselaer, H., 277. 
Vedder, S. C, 23, 374. 
Vermont Brigade, 136, 300. 

3rd regiment, 298. 

5th regiment, 298. 

15th regiment, 298. 

Wadhams, E. P., 23. 

Wadsworth, J. S., 245. 

Walling, W. H., 12, 88, 171, 175, 

198-199, 372. 
Ware, R., 280. 
Warren, G. K., 236, 252. 
Washington City, 32, 37, 54, 74, 

87, 167-168, 184, 226-227. 
Washington, G., 2, 65-67, 105, 152, 

154-155. 
Wead, F. F., 71, 146, 375. 
Weed, T., 27. 

Wheeler, W. A., 8, 17, 55, 147, 210. 
Wheelock, G., 280. 
Whetten, Miss H. D., 280. 
Whipple, A. W., 257. 
Whiskey Ration, 71. 
Whitehall, 4, 8, 14, 16. 
White Oak Church, 219, 302, 307. 
Whiting, W. H. C, 45-46, 102, 112. 
Willcox, O. B., 41-42, 44, 218. 
Williamsburg, 152. 
Wilmington, N.C., 46. 
Wilson, J. H., 293, 296. 
Wilson, R., 155. 

Wilson, R. P., 72, 155, 206-207, 305. 
Wilson Small, The, 280-281. 



384 



Index 



Winslow, G. B,, 115, 239, 243. 
Winslow, J. H., 213-214. 
Wisconsin Troops: 
5tli infantry, 298. 
43rd infantry, 298. 
Woolsey, Mrs. C. W., 32, 35-37, 

278, 285, 287. 
Woolsey, Miss G. M., 35, 37, 277, 
280. 



Wood. W W., 16, 34/80, 107. 

Wool, J. E., 7. 

Wojmeley, Miss K. P., 276, 280-281. 

Wright, H. G., 296. 

Wright, S., 7. 

Wythe, G., 153. 

Yorktown, 95, iS4-iSS- 



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